Image by PrestoHaun from Pixabay
A couple of news items this week got me thinking again about flying and climate. In The Guardian the question was raised whether it is possible to both expand flights capacity and achieve net zero. This is on the back of the UK airport Gatwick attempting to get permission for a new runway and all the extra flying that will therefore happen and other UK airports asking for longer operating hours and talking about greater efficiencies to get more passengers through. If mature markets like the UK feel there is more to be done with passenger numbers, what about the emerging economies which have yet to see sizeable numbers of people who can both afford to fly and decide this is how they would like to spend their new discretionary income (though of course, much of the extra capacity in places like the UK will be to receive these new flyers). The article then looks at how net zero is being addressed despite these expansion plans – carbon credits, electric airport vehicles, renewable energy, developing sustainable aviation fuels (SAFs). In general, there is a feeling that the green side of this is nowhere near enough yet to balance out the growth in airplane activity.
Over on SDG Hub, Robert Cathcart makes quite a case for how airports could in fact become very low emissions based if they take the opportunities of new solar power tech to get as much of their energy use over to renewables. He has a few case studies including Cochin Int’l Airport in India which claims to be the first in the world that is completely solar powered.
Certainly an area of environmental impact which is going to be contentious and ever-changing for some time.
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