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Wednesday, 1 June 2022

Could the aviation industry really ever become green?

Could the aviation industry really ever become green? While the slowdown in international travel and commuting ushered in by the pandemic brought energy-related pollution down 5.8% globally, according to the IEA, there’s still an inherent problem with how carbon-intensive the world’s air travel system remains. The technological solutions needed to facilitate this overhaul are fairly clear: Alternative fuels will need to replace fossil fuel powered jet engines. The question that remains is how quickly we’ll be able to make this transition a reality.

If you needed a reminder, flying is pretty bad for the environment: The tourism aviation industry alone is estimated to have contributed 5% to global greenhouse emissions in 2016 and that figure is on track to grow by at least 25% by 2030, according to the World Tourism Organization. Emissions from aviation grew 33% between 2013 and 2019, and despite a small breather during the pandemic, is now returning to business as usual.

Sustainable aviation fuels could be part of the answer: There’s a “growing consensus that sustainable aviation fuels (SAFs) is the way to go, particularly in the short to medium term,” Filip Cornelis, director for aviation at the European Commission, tells Euronews. SAFs are biofuels that come from organic plant matter or municipal waste and only emit a fraction of the carbon that fossil fuels do while containing just about the same amount of power.

But there’s a catch: SAFs are expensive and adoption has been slow. Today, they account for just 0.01% of all jet fuel. “Because the sector is extremely competitive, no single airline can afford to suddenly become a major user of SAFs without defeating its competitive position. Because of that there’s little production. Because there’s little production, the prices are high," Cornelius said.

How are we supposed to get over this hurdle? Some have suggested that airlines be forced to purchase more of this kind of fuel. Others — particularly those in the airline industry — argue it would be more effective to force companies to produce more SAFs. “We should be putting an obligation on the fuel companies to produce it. There is a desire on the part of airlines to move in this direction, cost is a significant factor, but we have airlines investing in production of biofuels,” Willie Wlash, the director-general of the International Air Transport Association (IATA), told Euronews.

Hydrogen is the long-term play: Hydrogen-powered aircraft could be the aviation industry’s most promising alternative to fossil fuels. Already, the European Commission has committed some EUR 2 bn into developing these kinds of aircrafts. The airline industry is matching that figure and then some, Cornelius explains. While these developments are encouraging, we’re still a long way away from rolling out hydrogen-powered aircraft and its supporting infrastructure at a large enough scale. We could be looking at another eight years before we see a hydrogen passenger plane hit the market.

In the interim, improving navigation could be a useful step: “By improving the use of space and the way aircrafts take off and land, we could "reduce emissions of CO2 by 15% in the coming years,” said Edward Arkwright, deputy CEO of Groupe Aéroports de Paris (ADP).

How would this work? By having aircrafts approach the runway closer to the ground rather than go through a gradual, engine-intensive landing process, aircrafts could require less fuel. Reducing the time aircraft spend idling on runways would also help. The problem is that these options would require costly investments and a considerable degree of coordination between lots of countries.

What about scrapping flight all together? Getting people to fly less might be a quick way to scale back emissions this decade, according to environmental nonprofit Transport and Environment, but it might be logistically difficult to actually do so quickly — especially considering the interconnectedness of the modern world.

Having said that: Less than 1% of global trade is conducted via air freight and only 11% of people around the world set foot on a plane in 2018.

Still, scaling back air travel could be a big help: Reducing air travel dramatically would serve as yet another interim measure to help curb the industry’s damaging effects. When possible, trains and high speed railways could come to substitute many domestic travel needs while reconsidering international travel for a staycation wouldn’t hurt either.

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