12 Jul '23

Newslinks: June 2023

July 12, 2023

NEWS

Ongoing emissions from

… demand growth

TRAVEL GROWTH

• Long-distance travel
https://forumviesmobiles.org/en/dictionary/15897/long-distance-travel

• The Reasons Behind New Zealand’s Higher-Than-Average Per Capita Aviation Emissions Levels
https://simpleflying.com/new-zealand-high-aviation-emissions-explanation/

POST COVID GROWTH

• Airlines on course for near-record revenues of $803bn in 2023, says Iata
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2023/jun/05/airlines-on-course-record-revenues-803bn-2023-iata-willie-walsh-fares-profits

FLEET EXPANSIONS

• IndiGo: Record aircraft purchase announced at Paris Airshow
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-65952879

AIRPORT EXPANSIONS

• Bristol Airport protesters: ‘We are watching you’
https://www.bristol247.com/climate/news-climate/bristol-airport-protestors-we-are-watching-you/

PRIVATE JETS

• Disco then shower at 33,000ft: Dubai hotelier launches £10k-an-hour ‘party jet’
https://www.theguardian.com/news/2023/jun/10/dubai-hotelier-launches-10k-an-hour-party-jet-shower-disco

… 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.

• Airlines hope that sustainable fuels will propel them to a guilt-free future
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2023/jun/10/airlines-hope-that-sustainable-fuels-will-propel-them-to-a-guilt-free-future

• Boeing Introduces Sustainable Aviation Fuel Dashboard
https://www.environmentalleader.com/2023/06/boeing-introduces-new-sustainable-aviation-fuel-dashboard/

• Study: How To Accelerate Aviation’s CO2 Reduction
https://aviationweek.com/air-transport/aircraft-propulsion/study-how-accelerate-aviations-co2-reduction

• This Airport Is the World’s First to Offer Only Green Fuel for Aircraft Refueling
https://www.autoevolution.com/news/this-airport-is-the-worlds-first-to-offer-only-green-fuel-for-aircraft-refueling-216371.html

• Swedish carrier Vastflyg to use sustainable fuel exclusively on network
https://www.flightglobal.com/airlines/swedish-carrier-vastflyg-to-use-sustainable-fuel-exclusively-on-network/153652.article

• Towards Greener Skies: How airlines are aiming at sustainable flying beyond SAF
https://www.businesstoday.in/industry/aviation/story/towards-greener-skies-how-airlines-are-aiming-at-sustainable-flying-beyond-saf-385047-2023-06-10

• Pittsburg Airport Seeks To Produce Sustainable Aviation Fuel
https://www.travelpulse.com/News/Airlines-Airports/Pittsburgh-Airport-Seeks-To-Produce-Sustainable-Aviation-Fuel

• Pig (Fats) Do Fly: Sustainable Aviation Fuel Shortfall Raises Questions About Sources Of Feedstocks
https://simpleflying.com/sustainable-aviation-fuel-shortfall-feedstocks/

• Environmentalists and industry weigh in on how to decarbonize aviation
https://www.seattletimes.com/business/boeing-aerospace/as-aviation-scrambles-and-climate-pressure-grows-wa-takes-center-stage/

• Want a climate-friendly flight? It’s going to take a while and cost you more
https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/climate-friendly-flight-cost-100351806

• Passengers to carry costs of carbon-zero flights, still ‘decades’ away
https://www.smh.com.au/traveller/travel-news/passengers-to-carry-costs-of-carbon-zero-flights-still-decades-away-20230627-p5djp1.html

BIOFUELS

• Planes could soon run on pig fat – but it won’t reduce emissions
https://www.newscientist.com/article/2376853-planes-could-soon-run-on-pig-fat-but-it-wont-reduce-emissions/

HYDROGEN

Hydrogen-powered aircraft will not have zero emissions, even if hydrogen is produced from renewable electricity, because it will still emit NOx and generate contrail cirrus that have a higher climate impact than CO2 today. The deployment of “green” hydrogen in aviation would require huge quantities of renewable electricity, which would deprive other sectors needing to decarbonise. Hydrogen will not be viable for medium and long-haul flights before 2050, much too late to tackle the climate emergency.

• The Southwest of England: A global centre for clean aviation growth
https://www.internationalairportreview.com/article/185718/the-southwest-of-england-a-global-centre-for-clean-aviation-growth/

• Alliance for Zero-Emission Aviation
https://defence-industry-space.ec.europa.eu/system/files/2023-06/Progress%20report%20v.1.0.pdf

… delusional reduction pathways

NET ZERO 2050

Net Zero 2050 is aviation’s climate crash flight path. It won’t stop 2ºC of extremely dangerous warming, and has a 10% chance of ending society as we know it — pushing the planet past 3ºC.

• Australian Jet Zero Council
https://www.infrastructure.gov.au/infrastructure-transport-vehicles/aviation/australian-jet-zero-council

• Decarbonising aviation
https://impact.economist.com/sustainability/net-zero-and-energy/decarbonising-aviation

• Decarbonizing aviation: Executing on net-zero goals
https://www.mckinsey.com/industries/aerospace-and-defense/our-insights/decarbonizing-aviation-executing-on-net-zero-goals

• The Battle To Decarbonize The Aviation Industry
https://oilprice.com/Energy/Energy-General/The-Battle-To-Decarbonize-The-Aviation-Industry.html

• The world’s most eco-conscious airlines
https://edition.cnn.com/travel/world-most-eco-conscious-airlines-cmd/index.html

• Passengers to carry costs of carbon-zero flights, still ‘decades’ away
https://www.smh.com.au/traveller/travel-news/passengers-to-carry-costs-of-carbon-zero-flights-still-decades-away-20230627-p5djp1.html

• Environmentalists and industry weigh in on how to decarbonize aviation
https://phys.org/news/2023-06-environmentalists-industry-decarbonize-aviation.html

• Decarbonising aviation
https://impact.economist.com/sustainability/net-zero-and-energy/decarbonising-aviation

AIRCRAFT REDESIGN

• NASA unveils plans for eco-friendly Boeing plane to cut air travel emissions by 30%
https://www.wionews.com/science/nasa-unveils-plans-for-eco-friendly-boeing-plane-to-cut-air-travel-emissions-by-30-606517

… offsets

When all sectors need to reduce their emissions to zero, the aviation industry buys/offsets the reductions of others in order to grow its own emissions.

• Plane Nonsense
https://slate.com/business/2023/06/delta-carbon-offsets-sued-airlines-pollution-climate.html

• Are carbon offsets unscalable, unjust, and unfixable—and a threat to the Paris Climate Agreement?
https://bpb-us-w2.wpmucdn.com/web.sas.upenn.edu/dist/0/896/files/2023/06/OffsetPaper7.0-6-27-23-FINAL2.pdf

• Nature based solutions
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/dec/16/the-call-to-put-a-price-on-nature-can-be-appealing-but-it-misunderstands-whats-at-stake