Climate emergency
• Global warming overshoots increase risks of climate tipping cascades in a network model
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41558-022-01545-9
• Greenland’s glaciers might be melting 100 times as fast as previously thought
https://phys.org/news/2022-12-greenland-glaciers-fast-previously-thought.html
• The fingernails clinging onto Thwaites Glacier appear to be peeling off
https://m.dailykos.com/stories/2022/12/9/2140899/-The-fingernails-clinging-onto-Twaites-Glacier-appear-to-be-peeling-off
Ongoing emissions from
… demand growth
FOOTBALL WORLD CUP
• Qatar: Air traffic casts doubt on carbon neutrality claim
https://www.dw.com/en/qatar-world-cup-air-traffic-spike-casts-doubt-on-carbon-neutrality-claim/a-64130119
• World Cup: Shuttle flights cast doubts on carbon-neutral pledge
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-63796634
POST COVID
• When Will Air Travel Return to Pre-Pandemic Levels?
https://www.visualcapitalist.com/cp/when-will-air-travel-return-to-pre-pandemic-levels/
• Norwegian greenhouse gas emissions from air traffic are more than twice as high as the worldwide average
https://partner.sciencenorway.no/climate-environment-environmental-protection/norwegian-greenhouse-gas-emissions-from-air-traffic-are-more-than-twice-as-high-as-the-worldwide-average/2118958
… greenwashed fuels and engines
‘SUSTAINABLE’ AVIATION FUELS
The aviation industry uses marketing greenwash and accounting tricks to mislead you into thinking that actual flight emissions from ‘Sustainable’ Aviation Fuel (SAF) are a fraction of those from fossil jet fuel. A jet never burns pure SAF, so a common 50:50 blend with fossil jet fuel doubles claimed emissions. And actual flight CO2 emissions are additionally more than claimed, by the amount of CO2 drawn down in making the fuel. Furthermore SAF still creates non-CO2 emissions twice as warming as actual flight CO2 emissions.
• What is sustainable aviation fuel? Some say it’s the key to a greener airline industry
https://www.usatoday.com/story/travel/airline-news/2022/12/19/sustainable-aviation-fuel-reduces-airline-carbon-emissions/10651894002/
• Understanding variability in petroleum jet fuel life cycle greenhouse gas emissions to inform aviation decarbonization
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-022-35392-1
• Airbus boss warns of delay in decarbonising airline industry
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2022/nov/30/airbus-boss-warn-delay-decarbonising-airline-industry-hydrogen-sustainable-aviation-fuel
• Neste and Airbus Partner to Advance 100% SAF as Key to Reducing Greenhouse Gas Emissions
https://www.renewableenergymagazine.com/biofuels/neste-and-airbus-partner-to-advance-100-20221130
• JetBlue Reveals How It Intends To Get To Net-Zero By 2040
https://simpleflying.com/jetblue-net-zero-by-2040-strategy/
• How will commercial aviation reach net-zero emissions by 2050?
https://traveltomorrow.com/how-will-commercial-aviation-reach-net-zero-emissions-by-2050/
• World’s first ‘net-zero’ transatlantic flight scheduled for late 2023. But is it truly ‘guilt free’?
https://www.euronews.com/travel/2022/12/16/trailblazing-net-zero-transatlantic-flight-powered-by-cooking-oil-to-take-off-in-2023
BIOFUELS
• Grass Could Be The Answer To More Environmental Flying
https://www.forbes.com/sites/jamesmorris/2022/12/17/grass-could-be-the-answer-to-more-environmental-flying/?sh=119b37075b8a
… delusional reduction pathways
NET ZERO 2050
• How to Travel the World While Putting Nature First
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/23/travel/nature-positive-tourism-world-travel-and-tourism-council.html
• Air France-KLM CO₂ emissions reduction targets for 2030 approved by Science Based Targets initiative
https://www.logupdateafrica.com/amp/aviation/air-france-klm-co-emissions-reduction-targets-for-2030-approved-by-science-based-targets-initiative-1347173
• The aviation sector wants to reach net zero by 2050. How will it do it?
https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2022/12/aviation-net-zero-emissions/
EFFICIENCY GAINS
• United’s Big Boeing Purchase Set to Advance Its Ambitious Climate Goals
https://www.flyingmag.com/uniteds-big-boeing-purchase-set-to-advance-its-ambitious-climate-goals/
Stopping emissions by
… demand reduction
PROTEST
• Azamgarh villagers protest construction of International airport at Manduri, India
https://countercurrents.org/2022/12/azamgarh-villagers-protest-against-seizing-of-670-acres-of-land-to-construct-international-airport/
… travel alternatives
RAIL
• Australia passes new High Speed Rail Authority Bill
https://infrastructuremagazine.com.au/2022/11/25/australia-passes-new-high-speed-rail-authority-bill/
• National Faster Rail Agency
https://www.nfra.gov.au
• Faster rail plan
https://investment.infrastructure.gov.au/files/national_rail_program/Faster-Rail-Plan.pdf
• $1 billion signals brakes off for fast rail
https://www.afr.com/companies/infrastructure/1-billion-signals-brakes-off-for-fast-rail-20221118-p5bzdh
• Secret report urges high-speed rail between Sydney and Newcastle but NSW government refuses to release it
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2022/dec/24/secret-report-urges-high-speed-rail-between-sydney-and-newcastle-but-nsw-government-refuses-to-release-it
• Keeping aviation emissions in check
https://theconversation.com/why-electric-vehicles-wont-be-enough-to-rein-in-transport-emissions-any-time-soon-195722
• Vast majority of Australians want high speed rail
https://australiainstitute.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Climate-of-the-Nation-2022.pdf
• Planes, trains and automobiles: comparing cost, speed and emissions of Sydney-Melbourne travel
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2022/dec/10/planes-trains-and-automobiles-comparing-cost-speed-and-emissions-of-sydney-melbourne-travel
… fossil free flight
ELECTRIC FLIGHT
• Electric Aircraft Market to Reach USD 39.61 Billion by 2030
https://aviationsourcenews.com/analysis/electric-aircraft-market-to-reach-usd-39-61-billion-by-2030/
… regulation
SHORT HAUL BANS
• Belgium to tax private jets, short-haul flights
https://www.reuters.com/business/aerospace-defense/belgium-tax-private-jets-short-haul-flights-2022-12-10/
• It’s official: France bans short haul domestic flights in favour of train travel
https://www.euronews.com/green/2022/12/02/is-france-banning-private-jets-everything-we-know-from-a-week-of-green-transport-proposals
• French short-haul flight ban is legal, rules EU Commission in blow to airline lobby
https://www.greenpeace.org/eu-unit/issues/climate-energy/46501/french-short-haul-flight-ban-is-legal-rules-eu-commission-in-blow-to-airline-lobby/
• European Green Deal: new rules agreed on applying the EU emissions trading system in the aviation sector
https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/IP_22_7609
• EU signs agreement to raise price airlines pay for emissions
https://www.airport-technology.com/news/eu-airlines-emissions/
• EU to charge airlines more for polluting – but will ‘average Europeans’ pay the price?
https://www.euronews.com/green/2022/12/08/eu-to-charge-airlines-more-for-polluting-but-will-average-europeans-pay-the-price
• ETS aviation: Council and Parliament strike provisional deal to reduce flight emissions
https://www.consilium.europa.eu/en/press/press-releases/2022/12/07/ets-aviation-council-and-parliament-strike-provisional-deal-to-reduce-flight-emissions/
• EU aviation deal will see another lost decade in tackling emissions
https://www.transportenvironment.org/discover/eu-aviation-deal-will-see-another-lost-decade-in-tackling-emissions/
… behaviour change
STOPPING FLYING
• The only way to hit net zero by 2050 is to stop flying
https://www.ft.com/content/e00819ba-4814-11ea-aee2-9ddbdc86190d
