THE International Air Transport Association (IATA) has revealed that carbon emissions per passenger have declined by more than 50% since 1990.
The 290 member association
attributed the drop to an annual fuel efficiency improvement of 2.3% over the
period since 2009, some 0.8 percentage points ahead of target by the industry.
AITA’s director general and chief executive officer Alexandre de Juniac said this
progress is a combination of investments in more efficient aircraft and
operational efficiencies.
“Cutting per passenger emissions in half is an amazing achievement of the
technical expertise and innovation in the aviation industry. But we have even
bigger ambitions. From 2020 we will cap net emissions. And by 2050 we will cut
emissions to half 2005 levels.
“Accomplishing these targets means continued investment in new technology, sustainable fuels, and operational improvements,”
Airlines are said to have invested some US$1 trillion in new aircraft since 2009, and in addition have signed forward purchase agreements for sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) amounting to approximately $6 billion.
In addition, the
introduction of the Carbon Offsetting and Reduction Scheme for International
Aviation (CORSIA) will ensure carbon-neutral growth on international flights
from 2020 and raise around $40 billion in climate finance.
According to IATA, its analysis has
shown that alternative measures are inefficient and fail to cut carbon
The association added that efforts to deliberately suppress air travel through
punitive passenger taxes are inefficient and largely ineffective at reducing
carbon.
The CORSIA scheme’s effectiveness lies in its global scope. It is estimated it
will reduce emissions by around 2.5 billion tonnes over the lifetime of the
scheme. But global goodwill towards implementing CORSIA is being compromised by
governments introducing a patchwork of carbon taxes.
A series of decisions or
proposals have been made in recent months to levy air passenger taxes,
including in France, Germany, the Netherlands and Switzerland.
de Juniac is of the view that “taxation aimed at stopping people from
exercising their freedom to fly will make travel more expensive but do very
little to reduce emissions.
“It is a politician’s
feel-good solution, without taking responsibility for the negative impact it
has on the economy or the mobility restrictions it imposes on people with lower
incomes.”
Long-term, aviation is aiming to reduce emissions with cleaner technology. This
will require a financially sound airline sector capable of funding the
significant investments that will be needed to make flying sustainable.
“Governments must focus their efforts correctly. Flying drives prosperity. It
is not the enemy. Cutting carbon must at the forefront.
“And government leadership is needed to
incentivize the commercialization of sustainable aviation fuels, drive
efficiencies in air traffic management and support research into next
generation low-carbon energy sources,” said de Juniac.
