Fuelling Change

As the news on global warming heats up, making the airline industry more sustainable is a growing priority

- Jenni Reid

‘First-class hypocrite!” blared UK tabloid the Mail on Sunday’s front page after Emma Thompson was spotted on a flight to New York. The reason for the outrage? The actor was travelling days after attending the Extinction Rebellion protests in London, which called for radical action to tackle climate change. Concern over the effects of carbon emissions on the planet are not new, but as scientific warnings get more dire and schoolchildren around the world strike to demand change, it has never been so urgently discussed.

Aviation’s role in all of this is no secret – it causes about 2 per cent of manmade global emissions, a figure predicted to rise rapidly. And the more pleasant your airborne experience, the worse your contribution is likely to be (those flying ten-abreast in an A350 can feel a little less guilty than those relaxing in a private jet). But whatever class we sit in and however much we care about climate change, most of us still feel we can justify our need to fly in the first place. Like Thompson, our readers would likely argue it would be impossible to do their jobs without it.

The aviation industry is aware of the part it needs to play in helping to reconcile our reliance on flying with its harmful effects. The UN’s International Civil Aviation Organisation is implementing a carbon offsetting and reduction scheme that requires all operators to monitor, verify and report their emissions on international flights. Meanwhile, the International Air Transport Association (IATA), which counts some 290 airlines among its members, has committed to capping aviation’s net CO 2 emissions from next year and reducing its net CO 2 emissions by 50 per cent by 2050, relative to 2005 levels.