Summer holiday season is coming to an end, and it’s almost time to stow those suitcases back in the attic until next year. For the more organised amongst us, it’s also time to start thinking about next year’s destination of choice. But if you’re trying to keep your carbon footprint in-check, jetting off to explore foreign climes brings with it a whole new dilemma: not just where to go, but whether flying is really an environmentally friendly choice.
I work for the Air Transport Action Group, which is a global cross-industry coalition including airlines, airports, aircraft and engine manufacturers, air traffic controllers, etc. that have decided to coordinate their environmental activities to reduce the impact of aviation on the environment. One of the initiatives we’re working on is called Enviro.aero which aims to illustrate what the entire air transport industry is doing to reduce its environmental impact – we also have a website: www.enviro.aero .
Flying is an important part of both our business and our personal lives, allowing us to visit friends and explore new places, which just wouldn’t be practically accessible by any other form of transport. However, both individuals and the industry need to adopt a responsible approach to limiting aviation’s environmental effects.
This means you need not avoid holidaying abroad, but you do need to be a responsible traveller. And the first step is often the hardest – when you fly… pack light! Yes, they do make suitcases that can carry your entire wardrobe these days, but wouldn’t it be nicer not to have to enlist a team of fellow travellers to haul your bag off the conveyor belt for once? Think about what you’ll really need to take, rather than how big your weight allowance is, and you’ll probably save a good few kilos.
Leaving even one kilo of luggage at home can make a surprisingly big difference. An aircraft will burn about 0.03kg of fuel for each kilogramme carried per hour. Based on that average, and given that the total commercial fleet combined flies about 57 million hours per year, saving one kilogramme on each flight could save roughly 170,000 tonnes of fuel and 540,000 tonnes of CO2 per year. Let that be your inspiration, and leave a few things behind next time you fly.
A lighter bag also makes it easier to get yourself down to the nearest train station or bus terminal, and taking public transport to the airport is another step towards reducing CO2 emissions and improving local air quality. Public transport to and from our airports has never been so good. Just look at the effect the Heathrow Express has had in London: it can carry 5.5 million passengers annually, which means 3,000 fewer cars on the road every day.
Once you’ve done all you can to minimise the emissions of your flight, think about offsetting those which are unavoidable. Some airlines, including British Airways, SAS Group, and Cathay Pacific, now offer you the opportunity to offset when you buy your ticket. Although I’d agree it’s not perhaps a long-term solution, offsetting does fund projects, which will contribute to reducing the levels of CO2 in the atmosphere, so it shouldn’t be dismissed.
And of course, it’s not just you as the passenger who should behave responsibly. The whole air transport industry has a role to play and is in the process of implementing a number of initiatives to fulfil their obligation to reduce emissions. The industry is investing in the latest and most efficient aircraft technology; it is decreasing the weight of planes and saving fuel; it is developing new operational procedures on the ground that save fuel; and is constructively moving towards emissions trading in Europe. Alternative fuels are being investigated for both aircraft and ground vehicles; modified winglets are being introduced which reduce drag and can improve fuel efficiency by five percent, and by working with governments across the world to shorten routes, the industry saved 6 million tonnes of CO2 last year.
Whether we’re flying for business or personal reasons, it’s up to us as consumers to work with the industry to minimise the environmental impact of our travels. We shouldn’t have to leave our environmental principles at home when we travel, and I don’t believe we have to. Carefully planned packing, responsible travel to the airport, and a contribution to offsetting your impact will mean that wherever you end up, on a sun-soaked beach or muddy mountain trail, you don’t need to worry about how you got there (until you need to find your way home…).
