Climate Change News
Below are news items on climate change – many with relevance to aviation
Letter from Zack Polanski (Chair of London Assembly Environment Cttee) to Gatwick’s Stewart Wingate,
The Gatwick consultation ends on 27th July. In a letter to Gatwick's CEO, Stewart Wingate, Zack Polanski (London Assembly Member and Chair of London's Environment Committee), sets out reasons to oppose the planned expansion of the airport. He says aviation in the UK already adds around 10% of the country's climate impact, compared to around 2% as the global average - indicating how much British people fly. The proportion of people who (before Covid) flew in any one year is about 50%, which is far higher than the global average. The Climate Change Committee has said that a restriction on air travel demand is needed. So any airport expansion is completely at variance with that. There are no realistic technologies, available in the next 20 - 30 years, to enable a large amount of zero carbon flying. It just won't happen. "Airlines are out of control; they fail to meet even basic climate targets and are marking their own homework." The Mayor of London has said: “I fail to see how any airport expansion can be justified, being incompatible with achieving the UK’s net zero target”. Expanding Gatwick will worsen air pollution, and road and rail congestion, with negative effects on London as well as locally.
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Inadequate Jet Zero strategy criticised by environmental groups and even pilots
The DfT has produced its "Jet Zero Strategy" which is the nearest thing there is to an aviation policy for the UK. Though, as that, it is entirely inadequate. Leading environmental groups - Green Alliance, Friends of the Earth, Possible, Transport & Environment and AEF - have explained why the strategy is ineffective, in cutting future aviation CO2 emissions. The Climate Change Committee's annual report, published in June, found the aviation industry (also agriculture) is unprepared for meeting the UK's legally binding climate targets for "net zero" by 2050. The Jet Zero strategy needs to have detailed policy proposals on how its ambitions will be achieved, with specific policy mechanisms to create incentives for the development and deployment of zero emission aircraft and sustainable aviation fuels. It should have a detailed decarbonisation pathway that achieves genuine carbon reductions before 2035, not only after then. It needs to have a plan to curb air passenger demand, as novel and untested technological solutions - on which the strategy largely depends - cannot be relied up. Even BALPA, the pilots' union, has said the strategy places too much faith is future technologies, that may not deliver.
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DfT publishes “Jet Zero Strategy” … “so passengers can look forward to guilt-free travel”
The DfT has published its "Jet Zero Strategy", such as it is. For net emissions, not all emissions. Predictably, it does not propose realistic cuts in aviation carbon emissions, nor any measures to reduce air travel demand. The Strategy says: "We are introducing a CO2 emissions reduction trajectory that sees aviation emissions peak in 2019. [39.6MtCO2]. This trajectory from 2025 to 2050, is based on our "High ambition" scenario, and sets ambitious [sic] in-sector targets of 35.4 MtCO2e in 2030, 28.4 MtCO2e in 2040, and 19.3 MtCO2e in 2050." The level was about 18MtCO2 in 1990. So it will take 30 more years, to get them back to the 1990 level (by which time, the UK should - miraculously - have become "net zero". The strategy makes no mention of air travel demand management, which would be the simplest and most effective mechanism to cut emissions. Instead there are hopes of tech solutions of all sorts (none that could become commercially viable for decades) and the intention to have a mandate for jet fuel to contain 10% SAF by 2030. Problem with that is "sustainable aviation fuels" have their own considerable carbon and environmental downsides. The aviation industry will be happy - they can keep on growing ...
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Protesters at Farnborough as Government launches deeply inadequate “Jet Zero Strategy”
Earlier in the year, the DfT had a consultation on its "Jet Zero" proposals. At the Farnborough air show, it has now announced it Jet Zero Strategy. Predictably, it does not propose realistic cuts in aviation carbon emissions, nor any measures to reduce air travel demand - as had been recommended by the Climate Change Committee. Yet Jet Zero supports the unconstrained growth of flying and airport expansion. The strategy has been criticised by independent experts and climate campaigners for its failure to include any measures to limit demand for flying. Instead, it takes a high risk approach of assuming that emissions reduction will be achieved solely by the introduction of alternative fuels, new technologies and widely discredited offsetting. The strategy allows for UK aviation emissions to continue to rise, rather than the drastic cuts in all greenhouse gas emissions that are urgently needed, by 2030. Protesters went to Farnborough, to mark the launch of the (non) strategy, with the slogans "Pigs Might Fly" and "Green Aviation = Flight of Fancy."
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High Court rules UK “net zero by 2050” plan is too vague, with no clear policy pathway
The high court has ordered the UK government to outline exactly how its "net zero" greenhouse gas (GHG) policies will achieve CO2 emissions targets by 2050. Friends of the Earth, ClientEarth and the Good Law Project had made a legal challenge about the government’s vague climate change strategy, as it lacks the necessary policies to achieve its targets. Now Justice David Holgate has ruled that the plan is unlawful, regarding government obligations under the Climate Change Act. The government does not know how various individual policies could contribute to achieving the legally binding climate target, and therefore could not properly assess the plan's credibility. Judge Holgate said a detailed and quantified explanation of how the policies would achieve net zero GHG emissions by 2050 was important for holding ministers to account and for “transparency”, for everyone to understand. He ordered ministers to publish an updated strategy by the end of March 2023. The Climate Change Committee has aid there was “scant evidence” of delivery against the high-level target, with major policy gaps in key areas - such as aviation.
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The madness of cutting down forests to grow food crops for supersonic aircraft biofuels
Dan Rutherford, shipping and aviation director at the ICCT (International Council for Clean Transportation, in the US) has set out the nonsense of United Airlines attempting to convince people that flying supersonic could be "low carbon" or "sustainable." United have said they intend to buy 15 supersonic jets, and fly them using 100% "low carbon" fuels. Dan's calculations show that, as well as fuels produced from renewably produced electricity being implausible at scale, fuels derived from crops of any sort would have high lifecycle carbon emissions. Already, crazily, in 2020, the US devoted about a third of its corn and soybean harvests to production of ethanol and biodiesel for road transport. The volume of jet fuel United would want for its (very high fuel consumption) supersonic jets would require millions of hectares of agricultural land, competing with food crops and driving up the price of food globally. United also has another 860 or so other planes, which it might try to fuel with novel fuels. And so called "sustainable aviation fuels" (SAF) derived from plants would probably, at best, reduce CO2 emissions by perhaps 27% compared to conventional jet fuel. Just say no to the "supersoynic" renaissance.
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“I have zero sympathy for victims of travel chaos – ban international flights”
As a contrast to the extensive, continuing press coverage of the difficulties of air passengers, who have been delayed at airports etc, a refreshing opinion piece, by writer Donnachadh McCarthy sees things differently. He says: "Sorry, but I have zero sympathy for the so-called victims of the chaos at our overwhelmed airports....To be fair to the two million Britons who flew abroad during the recent mid-term break, many may not understand how criminal their holiday flights actually are, with our media keeping people in carbon illiteracy. ... 4 return tickets to California cause the emission of about 9 tonnes of CO2. That is about the same as 12.5 years of electricity use by an average UK household. The 4 tickets to the Canaries would be 6 years. To New Zealand, 28 years. ... While [DfT] press releases are dripping with the word “sustainable”, they really mean sustainable in terms of increasing profitability and passenger numbers, not for climate." ... Until global CO2 emissions have fallen by 45by 2030, governments need to now ban all holiday flights, other than those needing to visit family on compassionate grounds.... Either we are serious about the climate crisis or we should admit we do not give a toss and we will fiddle and fly whilst the planet burns."
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Dutch environmental groups suing KLM for its misleading, greenwashing, adverts
Environmental groups are suing the Dutch subsidiary of Air France KLM over an advertising campaign that they allege breaches European consumer law by misleading the public over how environmentally "sustainable" its flights are. Dutch campaigners Fossielvrij NL, supported by environmental law charity ClientEarth and Reclame Fossielvrij, have filed the first lawsuit alleging greenwashing in the airline industry in the District Court of Amsterdam. KLM wants to persuade its customers that it is working hard to cut carbon emissions, while in reality doing practically nothing, and aiming to grow flights and emissions. Campaigners have launched hundreds of climate change-related suits against companies, governments and authorities to try to fight an escalating climate crisis. Campaigners want to stop KLM's 'Fly Responsibly' adverts, saying they violate the Dutch implementation of the EU's Unfair Consumer Practices Directive by giving the false impression its flights will not exacerbate the climate crisis.The Dutch court will decide whether the case can proceed before KLM has to file any defence, ClientEarth said.
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Schiphol flights to be limited to 11% below 2019 levels to cut noise
After pressure from communities in the Netherlands, the Dutch Parliament has said Schiphol must reduce its flights from 500,000 a year to a maximum of 440,000 by 2023 in order to cut the noise experienced by impacted communities. That cut is 11% less than in 2019 (about 510,000). It is understand from the Dutch aviation campaigners that the mix in the current Dutch Parliament helped. The Netherlands has proportional representation and enough small parties backed the proposals to get it agreed. The decision follows a move by Schiphol itself, in which the Dutch state is the majority shareholder, to impose a cap on the number passengers it can carry this summer - although that was due to staffing shortages. Part of the reason is awareness fo the carbon emissions. Airlines, predictably, are not happy. Greenpeace, which had lobbied for traffic at Schiphol to be reduced, hailed the decision as a "historic breakthrough". This might be the first time a major airport has been asked to reduce flight numbers.
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Aviation campaigners from across Britain call on government to stop all airport expansion plans
GALBA (the Group for Action on Leeds Bradford Airport) and 24 other airport campaign groups across the country send an open letter to Robert Courts, Minister for Aviation, and Michael Gove, Minister for Levelling Up and Communities, calling on ministers to re-think their policy of supporting an unconstrained growth of flying. The campaigners want the government to immediately stop all plans to expand airports to help the UK cut its greenhouse gas emissions as much as possible and as quickly as possible. The letter echoes advice from independent experts and national environmental organisations. Due to global heating, we are at an unprecedentedly dangerous moment in human history. Every sector of the economy must halve its greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 if we are to preserve a liveable planet for future generations. They urge the government to stop supporting unconstrained aviation growth and airport expansion plans, until aviation emissions are actually falling and wider emissions are on track to keep global heating to no more than 1.5C.