Fly the climate is harmful and if you fly, you should do the responsible, say now even airlines. Shows the strange word of the flight of shame effect?
At the beginning of June in Seoul, the year of the line to meet the air travel organisation IATA, which represents most of the world’s air traffic. At the closing press conference, Secretary-General, Alexandre de Juniac gets a simple question from a Reporter of a news Agency. “Are you a polluter?” The top industry lobbyist looks a little puzzled and dismissive. The Reporter asks a second Time, garners eye rolls. Only after the third Repeat of the question de Juniac lectures slightly reluctantly, about how much the airline industry for the protection of the climate is doing.
And that’s actually true, it happened in the last few years, a lot of. What is left hanging but the impression that is the most important representative of the most important industry Association has not recognized the seriousness of the situation still is. At the latest, since in Sweden the last Winter, for the first time, the term “flight of shame” came up, and for the Generation of climate-protection-striking students in the air traffic to the enemy. Since then, the airline industry is responsible for two to three percent of man-made CO2 emissions, publicly in the pillory.
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Soon out of business?
Among many young people fly is occupied for the first time negative. This could be in a decade, a big Problem for the Airlines, if you are not, as previously, automatically weighted clientele grows, but future generations will change their flight behavior in a radical and possibly less flown than it is today.
The facts read is actually good for aviation: Modern aircraft to fly so quiet, and fuel-saving as never before, that is, they emit substantially less CO2 per flight, although air traffic overall is increasing, and thus the total load. The negative effect on the Environment by each individual traveler has halved since 1990, says the IATA. From 2020, the industry CO2 to grow-neutral by 2050, net emissions of CO2 to half the level of 2005 reduce, regardless of the growth.
“We must more and more popular to argue about what we have achieved, the facts penetrate alone in the communication” urges Lufthansa-Chef Carsten Spohr. The Lufthansa area refers to the fact that she needed 2018 only 3.65 litres of kerosene to fly one passenger 100 kilometres, which was a record. 1994 5.2 Liter that it had been necessary. With 210 to 2027 ordered new aircraft, this value should decrease with Lufthansa more clearly.
Tank trucks with Bio-kerosene in front of a Lufthansa Airbus
“We need a quick turnaround”
The previous EU transport Commissioner, Violeta Bulc, however, are: “The CO2 emissions today is not twice as high as in the 1990s, the cheap ticket prices to cover the environmental cost of flying, this can’t go on. We need a quick turnaround, we can do it.”
While IATA-Chef de Juniac refers defiantly to the fact that much of it is based upon “Hype against the fly” on the wrong information and it was easy to accuse the aviation and other transport are much greater polluters – what’s wrong – are others in the industry a lot more. The Dutch airline KLM is working about a constructive role in the future of air travel. FlyResponsibly a new KLM campaign, encouraging people to fly more responsible means. The aims of the EU Commissioner Bulc predetermined direction.
“It’s not going to fly,” says KLM CEO Pieter Elbers, but with more Caution and conscious. And best less. “Fridays for the Future, formulated less aversion to the fly as the call of responsibility to fly the full way,” says Elbers. To fly “for a few euros to anywhere in the world, will not find the people more responsible, and rightly so.” The KLM Boss is one of the few Airline bosses, who is also aware of their own losses. “For me it is clear, how the mood changes in society. We should take as an industry and see how we can implement.” In the longer term, there could be less growth in the air travel because of the people would reconsider your in-flight behaviour. But it was nothing Bad. “The people want the Airlines to take responsibility, and to be a part of the differentiation”, the Dutch Airline boss.
New fuels, new machinery
“Our biggest opportunity is sustainable flight fuels that can reduce our CO2 emissions by up to 80 per cent,” said IATA-Chef de Juniac, the direction of. However, the subject of the last only at a snail’s pace, kerosene from Oil was again become so cheap that more expensive organic Alternatives were again in the Background. Lufthansa, for example, has adopted, years ago, a pioneer in biofuel projects, with such innovative developments completely.
The future of flying: The Flying V-model of the KLM in a computer animation
Not-so-KLM: at the end of may, the Dutch undertook, starting in 2022 annually to 75,000 of the 100,000 tons of sustainable Bio-fuel to take off. The will then be produced in the currently under-construction world’s first specialised refinery in the Netherlands, especially from waste products such as used cooking oil. So the air travel can be annual savings of 270,000 tonnes of CO2, “that’s the equivalent of over a thousand flights between Amsterdam and Rio issued amount of,” says Pieter Elbers. But the Dutch are looking for comrades-in-arms: “the Transition to The use of Bio-fuel, we can’t do this alone as KLM, because the whole industry is in demand. We can not only show to others, cooperation is the key.”
And the Dutch have yet to look like an ACE in the Sleeve, has the advantage of being much more emotional than a refinery: The Flying V. KLM supports the Technical University of Delft to develop the aircraft of the future. The concept is smaller than the Airbus A350, and could use existing airports, but the same number of passengers and freight transport, with 20 per cent less fuel consumption.
“We have more than 25 years of research, but we start to celebrate the 100 year anniversary of KLM in October, with a 3×3-Meter test model,” says Professor Henri Werij of the TU Delft. First of all, the design of kerosene would start-driven, Alternatives are sought. “Batteries will not work on long distances, hydrogen or fuel cells would be a possibility,” said the Professor. As to the animations of today will probably never look a plane – the Flying V inspired, but at least the imagination and the will, to fly the future to make them more sustainable.