Air Bus plane.
© Air Bus
© Air Bus
by Marcela Torres
Air travel has broadly been identified as a
major source of greenhouse gas emissions and an important factor in climate
change issues. This raises questions as to the implications of increasing costs
of fuel and energy in the future and the need for tourism to be seen in the
wider context of environment, resources and mobilities if it is ever to become
sustainable.
Although some say planes only contribute
between 2 and 3 percent of global emissions, airlines are aware of the
criticism and have been tackling the problem for several years. The results?
Last month, Boeing performed the first-ever transatlantic crossing of a
commercial jetliner using renewable, biologically derived fuel. And this week,
Lufthansa and Airbus launched the world’s first daily passenger flights using
sustainable biofuel.
But the road to sustainable air travel has not
been always been easy or voluntary. When the European Union adopted the
Directive to include aviation in its Emissions Trading Scheme in January 2009
many airlines complained that it would hamper their operations in the
region. How does emissions trading work?
Passengers and companies contribute to some conservation project to offset
their carbon emissions, which are sold on a carbon market.
Some airlines such as Qantas, Air New Zealand,
Virgin Atlantic, and Continental voluntarily created their own carbon offset
programs to allow passengers to reduce their environmental footprint when
flying even before any regulations were passed. They were certainly pioneers in
the field, but questions quickly were raised about how much should tourists pay
per ton of avoided carbon dioxide and about the need to favor reduction of
emissions instead of offsetting schemes.
Many expected science and technology to play an
important role. Tourists see scientists as key actors in providing up to date
information to allow government officials to make the right decisions, while
the industry relies on technology to solve the problem of carbon dioxide
emissions without reducing flights.
The one big truth is that airplane travel is
here to stay and that the search for biofuels to replace fossil fuels is a
positive step in the right direction. Some view this progress with skepticism
and criticize that the trials by Boeing and Airbus only use a percentage of
biofuels in combination with kerosene. Others warn against the amount of water
that will be required to irrigate crops used to produce biofuel and whether or
not the increasing need for biofuels will motivate more deforestation to grow
crops.
It’s a problem difficult to solve. But the fact
that the air travel industry is making efforts to actually reduce emissions
instead of just offsetting them is a good sign that times are changing and
sustainable tourism may be possible after all.
This entry was originally posted by the author on July 22, 2011.
