Climate Change News
Below are news items on climate change – many with relevance to aviation
A different business model is needed for aviation – not high-volume, low-profit per passenger
A new research paper, in the Journal of Air Transport Management (by Stefan Grossling and Andreas Humpe) looks at the likely increase in CO2 emissions from global aviation, with and without managing to use genuinely low carbon fuels. It concludes that the air travel sector is set to expand significantly, with ever more demand for air travel. But the only method the sector has to cut its CO2 emissions and climate impact is to local new, low carbon fuels. These will inevitably be more expensive than the fossil kerosene used now. The supply of the fuels will also be limiting, and even if electricity for electrofuels can be obtained from nuclear-generated electricity, if will be costly. This increase in cost will be the mechanism to reduce overall demand for air travel, though it is not the stated intention of governments. The current business model of the airline sector is high-volume, low-profit-margin. That is not a sustainable model for a sector with such high carbon emissions. Historically airlines have usually made losses, unless there are enough passengers. Unless this changes, the CO2 from aviation will continue to increase.
Click here to view full story...
Report questions using renewably generated electricity to make e-fuels for aviation
The aviation sector is desperate to find some form of jet fuel that it can claim is low carbon, so it can justify continuing to fly ever more planes, transporting ever more passengers, against all logic of the carbon emissions generated. Hydrogen-fuelled and electric planes are not going to contribute in any meaningful way, for decades, if ever. That leaves SAF (Sustainable Aviation Fuel), one section of which might be "electrofuels" - ie. those generated by using surplus renewably generated electricity. But there are huge problems, due to the immense global demand for this electricity, which needs to be used for domestic heating and lighting, for all commercial buildings, all vehicles, trains etc etc. There just is not going to be much spare electricity, to (rather inefficiently) produce jet fuel. Now a new paper from a climate venture capital firm says this is not an efficient use of the electricity. "The figures show that a lot of renewable electricity is spent for scaling the production of synfuels which means it would be more efficient to use that electricity for other things like displacing coal generation or powering an electric vehicle."
Click here to view full story...
Virgin gets £1 million government funding for demonstration SAF flight
Virgin Atlantic has secured £1 million of UK Government funding (ie. from taxpayers) to fly a Boeing 787 jet from London Heathrow to New York JFK next year using so called "sustainable aviation fuel" (SAF) instead of kerosene. Virgin Atlantic and its partners are putting in similar funding. The SAF is expected to be produced primarily from waste oil and fats, such as used cooking oil. (There aren't enough waste oils and fats in the world to power many planes ...). SAF can, in some circumstances, reduces carbon emissions by around 70% compared with kerosene. The claim is that the other 30% will magically be offset by buying carbon credits (which usually do not actually do anything to remove CO2 from the atmosphere). But SAF is expensive, and in short supply. Up till now, planes have only been allowed to fly with 50% SAF in an engine, but the UK DfT's Baroness Vere said this plane with fly with 100%. Using SAF is the only realistic tool the aviation industry has, to cut its carbon emissions, other than flying efficiencies. Hydrogen and electric planes are unlikely to make much impact for many decades, if ever.
Click here to view full story...
Belgium to tax private jets and short haul flights using Brussels airport
The Belgian federal government is reviewing the taxation of planes landing or taking off in Belgium. New criteria are taken into account, such as greenhouse gas emissions, or the destination of the flight. Private jets, but also night flights will pay more. Currently any aircraft that lands or takes off from Brussels airport pays a fee based on the noise it generates on takeoff or landing. From April 2023, the tax will depend on noise, but also CO2 emissions, air pollution caused by the flight, the time of day or night at which the flight is made, and finally, the destination. The Federal Minister for Mobility Georges Gilkinet said “What I want to avoid is that Brussels airport becomes Europe’s noise dustbin and that it remains, on the contrary, among the best European airports. There is no reason why noisy planes which are refused elsewhere can continue to come to Brussels, and disturb the sleep of millions of Belgians“. Airlines are not happy about it. The other big change concerns private jets. They represent 3,000 flights per year or 12% of all Belgian air traffic.These measures represent a first step for the Minister, who is already planning more in the months to come.
Click here to view full story...
EU approves France’s short-haul flight ban — but only so far for 3 routes from Paris
The European Commission has approved France’s plan to ban short-haul flights when there’s a decent rail alternative — but it will only affect 3 routes. French lawmakers in 2021 voted to prohibit short-haul domestic flights when there’s an alternative rail connection of two and a half hours or less. The original proposal, which required the green light from Brussels, was initially to affect 8 routes. Now the Commission has said the ban can only take place if there are genuine rail alternatives available for the same route — meaning several direct connections each way, every day. So it will just apply to journeys between Paris-Orly and Bordeaux, Nantes and Lyon. It includes linking flights from those airports. Three more routes might be added — between Paris Charles de Gaulle and Lyon and Rennes, and between Lyon and Marseille — if rail services improve. The EU executive said France was justified to introduce the measure provided it is "non-discriminatory, does not distort competition between air carriers,[and] is not more restrictive than necessary". It is not really going to make much of a dent in overall French aviation CO2 emissions.
Click here to view full story...
Airlines want £billions taxpayer handouts to cover cost of developing “sustainable” jet fuel
Virgin Atlantic, BA and EasyJet have been criticised for making ‘outrageous’ requests for taxpayers to subsidise the attempts to use more lower carbon fuels, and indirectly, subsidise air passengers. Airlines are lobbying the government for £ billions in handouts to help them cover the cost of developing new fuels, called "sustainable aviation fuel" (SAF). Freedom of Information requests by OpenDemocracy found Virgin Atlantic, British Airways and easyJet are among the companies demanding public money to help them meet a requirement to use SAF in future. In any year, about 50% of the UK population do not fly, and the richest fly much more than poorer people. So subsidy for SAF from taxpayer money in inequitable. The airlines claim they pay money to the government, through the ETS and CORSIA. But that small amount of money helps to fund public services. The airlines are trying to claim that boosting SAF production would increase jobs etc ... There are not enough genuine sources of waste, that are not doing environmental harm, to produce much SAF - certainly not on the scale they want. The sector also wants "contracts for difference" to pay SAF producers agreed prices, even if the market price fell. Money for that has to be found from somewhere (taxing fossil jet fuel perhaps?)
Click here to view full story...
KLM encourages passengers to take the train for some short flights, to slightly reduce aviation CO2
KLM’s chief executive, Marjan Rintel, has encouraged passengers to take the train rather than fly on some short-haul journeys to help cut carbon emissions, saying the airline sector should stop viewing rail as a competitor. National governments in Europe have been taking action to get people on to high-speed trains instead of short-haul flights, to reduce aviation CO2 emissions. Air France, which comes under the same holding company as KLM, stopped flying domestic routes where there are rail or coach alternatives taking under two and a half hours in 2020, as part of measures it agreed to with the French government in exchange for aid during the Covid-19 pandemic. This was changed last week, when the EU only approved this for 3 routes, Paris-Orly and Bordeaux, Nantes and Lyon - and their connecting flights exempted. In June, the Dutch government announced plans to cut flights from Schiphol by over 10% to 440,000 a year. The move is likely to lead to a sharp reduction in short-haul flights from Schiphol, meaning the KLM boss can advocate rail trips. Rintel said KLM had already block-booked seats on the train service linking Amsterdam to Brussels and Paris .
Click here to view full story...
EU agrees to “watershed” inclusion into the carbon market for shipping; eyes now on aviation
EU negotiators have agreed to bring shipping into the EU's carbon market, the ETS, showing that pricing international emissions is possible. Shipping, (as well as aviation) is one of Europe's largest CO2 emitters, but so far it has not been fully included in the Emissions Trading System. It means that shipping polluters will have to pay and shows that the EU can regulate emissions beyond its borders. There had been claims in the past that shipping and aviation could not be included, as much of their emissions take place outside the EU's borders. T&E wants the same equally ambitious scheme for aviation, so it is fully in the ETS. Currently only flights within Europe are included, not those outside it, which make up about 60% of total European aviation CO2 emissions. EU negotiators will be discussing aviation emissions next week, and there is no reason for aviation to not be treated in the same manner as shipping.
Click here to view full story...
Reduction in flying only way to achieve net zero, warns sustainability expert
The only way the aviation sector will reach net zero by 2050 is if there is a reduction in the number of people flying. Cait Hewitt, policy director at Aviation Environment Federation, warned Travel Weekly’s Sustainability Summit that the aviation sector does “not yet have the technologies” required to achieve the target. The industry wants a lot more government financial assistance to produce more SAF, and also perhaps "green" hydrogen. But realistically, there is not going to be a lot of these fuels for many years to come, if ever. There will certainly not be enough for the sector not only to continue at its present size, but also to expand. The industry is desperate to make out that the problem is the need to decarbonise flights, not reduce their number. The sector has to keep growing - that is the universal business model. Cait said “I’ve heard all kinds of promises from the aviation sector about cutting emissions, and while it’s true that emissions are reducing on a per-passenger basis, overall emissions are not.” Every sector, including aviation, must cut its climate impact.
Click here to view full story...
Airbus boss warns of delay in decarbonising airline industry – “green” hydrogen and SAF not available in large amounts
Head of Airbus, Guillaume Faury, says there is a shortage of allegedly low carbon fuels, so-called "Sustainable Aviation Fuel" (SAF). He said this is slowing the uptake of SAF. He said he had concerns about the pace of investment in facilities to produce “green” hydrogen and SAF. "Green" hydrogen, produced from water using zero-carbon electricity, offers one possible solution, while SAF, made from plant or other wastes or using carbon from the air, can be used in existing gas turbine engines. The hope is that, although SAF burns to create CO2, there is less overall CO2 in the fuel lifecycle than using conventional jet kerosene. Airbus wants to fly zero-emissions hydrogen aircraft in commercial service by 2035 but Faury said this may be later, due to the lack of "green" hydrogen. With every other sector aiming to use genuinely low carbon, renewably generated electricity, is there enough to use on producing jet fuel, largely for discretionary leisure trips? Rolls Royce and EasyJet are also making efforts to test engines fuelled by hydrogen. So far it has been burned in a jet engine, on the ground, not on a plane in flight. SAF supplies are likely to remain relatively limited for years.