#flygskam: How is the European Aviation Industry responding to Flight Shaming?

Climate change. We’ve all heard of it. Scientists around the world have been warning us for decades about the dangers of a warmer planet but rarely have such organised and persistent climate protests taken place on the scale that has been seen recently. Unsurprisingly, as a consequence of calls for greater environmental protection,the aviation industry has found itself cast into the spotlight. One of the most prominent climate movements is “Fridays for Future” headed by Greta Thunberg. Her message quickly gained popularity throughout her native country of Sweden and the flight shaming narrative began to take hold.  

The effects of this change in public attitude are starting to be felt in the Swedish airline industry. Swedavia (the Swedish Airport Operator) reported in July that passenger numbers across its 10 airports for the first 6 months of 2019 had on average fallen by 4% compared to the same period in 2018. Domestically, passenger numbers dropped by 8%. For now, there is very little data to suggest if there is a global downtrend of passenger numbers but with the protests spreading from Sweden across the world, these initial figures have airlines concerned and they are starting to react to the pressure. 

In response, British Airways has recently announced that it intends to offset carbon emissions for all domestic flights by 2040 as part of its parent company IAG’s goal to fly carbon neutral by 2050. It intends to do this by investing money it generates through a specialised fund into an emission offset scheme that subsequently engages in projects promoting reforestation, renewable energy sources and enhancing energy efficiency.

However, carbon offsetting methods are not popular among many climate activists who view it as ‘too little too late’. The aviation industry unlike many others faces a unique issue in so far as currently, it is entirely dependent on fossil fuels. Other industries are able to reduce the amount of carbon they produce by choosing a sustainable alternative however, the aviation industry does not have this choice. Aircraft are still dependent on the burning of fuels to fly and carbon offsetting does not stop this from happening. For now, emissions will continue to be made which will feed into negative feedback loops worsening the climate before it can be rectified by carbon offsetting. 

Acknowledging this, British Airways has also pledged to invest £400m into developing renewable aviation biofuels, a move that could see household and commercial waste converted into jet fuel. This would drastically reduce an aircrafts impact on the environment as any carbon released during the combustion of biofuel would only be equivalent to that which the fuel has absorbed during its lifetime unlike fossil fuels which inject a new source of carbon into the atmosphere.

However, currently, biofuel production is not sufficiently available to sustain the entire airline industry as only 5 airports have regular biofuel distribution, BGO, BNE, LAX, OSL and ARN and only a handful of others have intermittent supply due to the limited supply of recycled waste that can be converted to fuel. Yet, despite these promising signs, on a commercial scale, biofuels are potentially more harmful to the environment than the extraction of fossil fuels thus limiting their effectiveness in helping airlines reach carbon neutral goals. In a study conducted by Princeton University, researchers found that the demand for organically grown biofuels has led to the widespread destruction of natural habitats in order to convert the area into farmland for fuel. Consequently, current biofuel use is unlikely to be able to rectify the environmental wrongs committed by the aviation industry in the near future. In order for biofuels to become a viable sustainable alternative to fossil fuels airlines must show an ongoing commitment to the refinement and production processes before their environmental footprint can be significantly reduced. 

Change to the industry is not only being proposed by voluntary action from within. Governments bodies are in the initial stages of drafting new legislative proposals to introduce levies for frequent fliers and environmental taxes to be paid in every fare so as to fund environmental protection measures. The most recent of these levies was passed by the French government which has added an extra cost of up to 18 Euros on flights arriving and departing from the country. A move that the government estimates suggest could raise 180 million Euros a year by the end of 2020. 

If such proposals are adopted across the Union, this may incentivise businesses that fly frequently to use more carbon friendly alternatives such as trains as their air travel expenditures begin to increase. Some companies such as Klarna Bank AB in Sweden have abolished all employee air travel within Europe and strongly discourages long haul flying. Such a trend poses a threat to airlines which now have to radically change to win back customers by both reducing their carbon footprint and costs so that they may compete more effectively with other short haul transportation.

Recognising this, airlines have begun to lobby governments into defragmenting airspace in an effort to ease congestion. By flying more directly and incurring less delays, IATA has found that this could reduce the airline industry’s carbon footprint by 10%. Also, for airlines, this is likely to reduce fuel and delay costs meaning they can lower ticket prices to keep fares steady in the face of looming tax hikes. The ‘Single European Sky’ project proposed by the European Commission has been around for decades however there has been a significant renewed effort to see the plan implemented in the near future and presents a great opportunity for airlines to adapt to the modern market. 

So, where does the industry stand today? Are we witnessing the slow decline and subsequent end of air travel? It is unlikely. Currently, airlines are still in the process of making their operations more sustainable and as time progresses and more policies that are only now in the developmental stage are implemented, it is likely that environmentally conscious consumers will return to flying once their effectiveness has been accurately documented. Although, over what time scale this can be achieved is unclear. As mentioned above, IAG currently has set a goal of being carbon neutral by 2050 but, by this time, what damage will have been inflicted upon the industry? Well, seemingly very little. Despite increased environmental protests, airlines have continued to expand capacity as demand across Europe grows. Eurocontrol industry monitor studies have shown that in 2019 the number of flights across Europe as a whole have increased by 2.1% highlighting that for many, flying is still necessary or indeed acceptable in light of the changes being made.

Although each flight taken today produces half the emissions it would have in 1990, the aviation industry must continue its efforts to cut carbon emissions by making significant improvements to current technology, both in renewable fuel and air traffic management systems before flying is to be considered an environmentally sustainable practice. Despite increasing climate concerns, the industry as a whole continues to grow, though, this does not mean airlines can become complacent. Every investment made by airlines to become more environmentally sustainable is a step toward increasing the longevity of the industry and its economic viability for the future.

-Scott Porter

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