Australian Aviation White Paper: Another federal government climate policy fail
Emissions and devastating climate impacts are increasing, and flying is the most global warming single human activity.
Yet the White Paper puts us all in harm’s way. It mandates no aviation emissions reduction target, no means of cutting in-flight CO2 emissions, and no halt to either aviation’s annual 4% growth or new runways and airports.
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The federal government has recently provided $1.7 billion in funding to commercialise ‘net zero innovations’ including low carbon liquid fuels and a ‘Sustainable’ Aviation Fuel (SAF) manufacturing industry.
There are serious reasons why these new fuels are not sustainable at all and why their use will greenwash ongoing fossil fuels and a growing aviation sector.
> Read the Briefing note
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September 13, 2024 - 12:09 am
NEWS
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October 3, 2024 - 4:36 am
INTERVIEW
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October 3, 2024 - 5:33 am
PODCAST
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September 18, 2024 - 6:50 am
Australia’s 2035 emissions reduction NDCs
We are in a climate emergency and the timescale of the government’s aviation emissions reduction pathway is too long.
Urgent action is required and technological-based emissions solutions can’t deliver the needed reductions.
They must be replaced with effective policy, social and economic regulations that do so.
Urgent action is required and technological-based emissions solutions can’t deliver the needed reductions.
They must be replaced with effective policy, social and economic regulations that do so.
Our key recommendations
Background
• Tax aviation fuel equal to that on road transport, to end the current $1.6 billion annual aviation fuel tax subsidy
• Halt airport infrastructure expansions
• Include emissions from international flights in annual Australian aviation emissions totals, in line with the best practice of United Kingdom, Denmark, France, New Zealand, Norway, Sweden
• Recalculate the climate forcing of aviation emissions in annual reporting to include all Scope 3 emissions and non-CO2 forcing
• Cap & reduce the volume of fossil jet fuel available in Australia for non-emergency flights, to prevent a growth in flight emissions and to incentivise investment in fuel efficiency improvements
• Halt the use of carbon offsets of any kind in the calculation of aviation industry emissions
• Halt airline industry advertising
• Halt the marketing of frequent flyer and fly/buy schemes that reward customers with discount flights
• Exclude all fuels produced from crops from so-called “Sustainable” Aviation Fuel. The prioritisation of limited SAF for essential and emergency needs, such as airborne fire-management programs.
• Halt taxpayer funding of alternative aviation fuels in government budgets including for programs such as Future Made in Australia.
NATIONAL SUSTAINABILITY FESTIVAL • ONLINE ZOOM EVENT • 8PM 15 FEBRUARY 2024
Shannon, Theo and Rosa’s excellent adventure
Travelling from the UK to Oz — and back — without costing the earth.
Flight Free Australia and the National Sustainability Festival 2024 presented a free online event exploring the future of travel in the climate emergency.
See video in full here.
Guests Shannon Coggins, Theo Simon and their daughter Rosa shared their recent four month overland journey from the UK to Oz, as part of a broader conversation around low-carbon and slow travel possibilities across Australia and the planet.
View video segments here:
Part 1: • In conversation
Part 1: • In conversation
Part 3: • Q&A
The conversation included a debunking of the emissions reduction possibilities of the federal governments proposed new Sustainable Aviation Fuel industry.
View video segment here:
Part 2: • Sustainable Aviation Fuels
With emissions free flight a long way off, how can we reconfigure travel culture and infrastructure to avoid flying?
View segment here:
Part 4 • Your inflight safety video
Our submission to the Federal Senate enquiry into Greenwashing
As a “hard to abate” sector, greenwashing has become a particularly major problem in the aviation sector.
We are concerned that the aviation industry is borrowing the playbook of tobacco, oil and other industries, to confuse, obfuscate and mislead the public while they grow. This has massive impacts upon our climate, so we need to call out this greenwashing and see appropriate action taken. We thank senators for instigating this enquiry.
You may like to read about aviation greenwashing, ranging from airlines claiming their “sustainability” to airports minimising their responsibility for global heating to government departments understating this impact. We point out the difficulty of assessing the veracity of claims about how airlines will be fuelled in the future, as well as the exaggerations by firms creating new fuels, and by all players who use the term “net zero” in the context of aviation.
Our submission can be seen on the Senate website and is listed as Number 68.
https://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/Senate/Environment_and_Communications/Greenwashing/Submissions
Flight Free Australia lodges complaint to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission
The complaint alleges misleading behaviour (in local football sponsorship) by Etihad Airways, winner of awards as a supposedly “sustainable” airline.
Lodged on our behalf by the legal team from the Environmental Defenders Office, it alleges that while consumers deserve to be able to trust marketing messages, Etihad’s “sustainability” message cannot be trusted.
No 3rd Tulla Runway campaign
