Airline Industry Makes Global Warming Priority
Photo by timmygunz, under a Creative Commons license
Some gratifying news for frequent (and even infrequent) flyers: The world’s airline industry, which opened its three-day annual meeting in Vancouver this past Sunday, has the relationship between increased air traffic and global warming “front and center on its radar screen,” according to the AFP. The International Air Transport Association (IATA) represents some 250 airlines, or 94 percent of scheduled international air traffic.
The aviation industry is paying the price of ignoring warnings that environmental issues—especially in Europe—were becoming a political concern on par with safety and security, according to Leo Van Wijk Wijk, chief executive of KLM Royal Dutch Airlines. “We’ve lost the PR battle and we’re not going to win the emissions battle by chattering with more PR about the past. They (the public) want to see action,” he told his colleagues on Tuesday, as reported by Reuters.
Air transport, says Giovanni Bisignani, IATA Director General and CEO, must aim to become “an industry that does not pollute—zero emissions.” The challenges the IATA sees are:
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Global Air-Traffic Management, which needs to eliminate its 12 percent inefficiency through next-generation air-traffic systems, thus saving millions of tonnes of CO2.
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Technology, meaning that the aerospace industry must build a zero-emissions aircraft in the next 50 years. “The first target is to replace 10 percent of fuel with low-carbon alternatives in the next 10 years,” says Bisignani. “And the second is to begin developing a carbon-free fuel from renewable energy sources. It’s time for governments and the oil industry to make some serious investments.”
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A Global Approach to tackling climate change, including a fair and effective voluntary global emissions-trading scheme.
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Green Businesses, for airlines to implement green strategies across the business with the assistance of IATA’s upcoming Project Green.
Meanwhile, member airlines have a Dec. 31, 2007 deadline to cast off all paper tickets, replacing them with e-tickets, instead. To smooth that transition, 70 percent of airports should be outfitted with multi-carrier electronic kiosks, and 80 percent of airlines should have adopted a standard bar code.
Related article:
1. Flying the Eco-Friendly Skies
One issue the IATA doesn’t seem to have addressed is the prodigious amount of waste air travel generates, especially in terms of meal-related plastic disposables—even in those small “bistro packs” domestic flights provide. It may require just a bit more preplanning, but consider bringing your own plastic flatware for reuse when you fly, so you can hand back the prepackaged utensil set to the flight attendant. (I’m not sure if metal ones would get past security in these paranoid times.)
You can also tote along your own SIGG or other reusable bottle to fill up with water on the plane (so you don’t have to rely on those little plastic cups to stay hydrated), as well as bring your own commuter mug for hot beverages such as tea and coffee. They’re small details, but you’ll cut down a whole lot of waste simply by continuing some of your BYO habits in the air.
Josiane said,
June 7, 2007 at 11:50 am
Great news! Thanks for bringing this to our attention.
Regarding e-tickets, I hope that there will be standard procedures implemented that really will allow this policy to bring the paper consumption down. It happened quite a few times that airline employees told me at check-in that they needed to see the (2-3 pages?) printed confirmation for my e-ticket…
Ridge said,
June 8, 2007 at 6:40 am
Hi, I always take my Hydropal on the plane, so I can always have freshly squeezed water, its my own portable personal water filtration system, I got it from http://www.hydropal.co.nz, its a new invention, and I couldn’t go anywhere without it now!