European Environment Agency: Reducing CO2 emissions from aviation ‘requires systemic change’ to cut demand
The EEA (European Environment Agency) says reducing CO2 emissions from Europe’s aviation and shipping industries requires systemic change, rather than simply improving efficiency. In a new report they say a massive shift in innovation, consumer behaviour and the take up of more ambitious green technologies to power aircraft and cargo ships are crucial. Both aviation and shipping have grown fast in recent years, and by 2050, the two are anticipated to contribute almost 40% of global CO2 emissions unless further mitigation is taken. Incremental small improvements in fuel efficiency will not be enough. For air travel, changes in lifestyle and culture are needed eg. more shift to rail and less demand for material imported material goods. Governments have a key role to play. The role of continuing subsidies to the aviation industry is important in maintaining high demand for air travel. There needs to be a change to the “attitude-action gap” whereby expressed “environmental awareness by individuals does not translate into reductions in flight demand.” … ” there will be a need for wider conversations around the types of lifestyle that will help enable sustainable mobility”. They are not convinced aviation biofuels will be anything more than minimal.
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European Environment Agency: Reducing emissions from seas and skies ‘requires systemic change’
1.2.2018
By Jonny Bairstow (Energy Live News)
Reducing emissions from Europe’s aviation and shipping industries requires systemic change, rather than simply improving efficiency.
That’s according to a new report from the European Environment Agency (EEA), which suggests a massive shift in innovation, consumer behaviour and the take up of more ambitious green technologies to power aircraft and cargo ships is crucial.
The two sectors have seen tremendous growth over past years as the global economy boomed, causing a surge in trade and travel.
By 2050, global aviation and shipping are anticipated to contribute almost 40% of global carbon dioxide emissions unless further mitigation is taken.
The report says incremental measures such as improving fuel efficiency will not be enough for these sectors to meet European green targets and says a more systemic change is needed.
For example, it suggests changes in lifestyle and culture are needed, such as shifting to rail transport or electric vehicles instead of aviation or by reducing demand for material goods and thus shipping.
The report says the long lifespan of airplanes and vessels can hamper a faster shift to cleaner technologies.
It adds governments have a key role to play by supporting investment in research, product standards and subsidies for new emerging technologies and to spur the sharing of data and information on the viability of new technologies.
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European Environment Agency
Aviation and shipping — impacts on Europe’s environment TERM 2017
Publication Created 29 Jan 2018
Published 31 Jan 2018
Topics: Transport Climate change mitigation Sustainability transitions
EEA Report No 22/2017
This report introduces several methods the European Environment Agency (EEA) has developed for assessing and communicating early RES growth and the important knock-on effects that RES growth has on the energy sector and related areas. The report provides specific information at EU and country level on estimated RES progress in 2013, estimated gross avoided carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions and avoided fossil fuel use due to the additional use of renewable energy since 2005, as well as an assessment of the statistical impacts of growing RES use on primary energy consumption.
Content
Report at
Aviation and shipping TERM 2017.pdf [965.2 KB]
Domestic and international aviation and shipping are key components of Europe’s mobility system. They are both economic sectors that directly bring many societal and economic benefits, such as the delivery of a wide range of goods and services and provision of employment and mobility for personal leisure or business purposes. However, from the broader environmental perspective, both sectors are also seen as challenging, because increasing demand within each of the sectors is exerting increasing pressures on the environment and climate. Their joint consideration in this TERM 2017 report also reflects key similarities, opportunities and challenges between them
https://www.eea.europa.eu/publications/term-report
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On biofuels the report says (Page 30):
In 2011, the European Advanced Biofuels Flightpath (EABF) was developed to help drive the increased uptake of biofuels in Europe’s aviation sector. The EABF had a goal of producing 2 million tonnes of sustainable biofuel for civil aviation by 2020. This is unlikely to be achieved, however, because of both the competition in demand for such alternative fuels and
the lack of dedicated biomass-to-liquid production facilities in Europe. Further, concerns over indirect land use changes from sustainable aviation fuels are also under discussion. Presently, the projected supply of biofuels into the aviation sector in 2020 is just 0.05 million tonnes (EASA et al., 2016).
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