Aviation plays an essential role in the economy of today. In 2015 the world’s airlines will carry over three billion passengers and 50 million tonnes of freight. Providing these services generates 8.7 million direct jobs within the air transport industry and contributes over $600 billion to global GDP. In fact, if air transport were a country, its GDP would rank it 21st in the world. Further, the role of aviation in society has been increasing. In 2014 the world celebrated 100 years of commercial aviation where around 65 billion trips have been made. It is forecast that it will take just 15 years for the next 65 billion trips to be made. However, one less desirable outcome of producing these economic and social benefits is the associated environmental footprint. For aviation to continue to provide and grow these considerable economic and social benefits it must transition to environmentally sustainable growth.
Environmentalists have been trying to make the data feel vivid and personal, so that we can feel the planet heating the way we feel chilly when the temperature drops.
The Ecological Footprint, a metric distributed by Global Footprint Network, measures everything we buy-from car to sofas- in terms of how much the earth’s resources are embodied in that purchase. You can take a quiz about your consumption and see what your footprint is. Even careful, conscious North Americans would learn that if everyone consumed the way they do, we’d need four earths. Oh, but we have only one.
When we go into personal debt, we might lose our car, our house, or our ability to borrow at all, but as long as we are alive we can start filling the coffers again. With ecological debt, that doesn’t work. We have only one planet
Air transport accounts for around 2% of global man-man CO2 emissions. While far lower than the road sector, it has not deterred aviation from actively seeking solutions to minimize its environmental impact. In recent years commercial aviation has developed the technical ability to use liquid fuel not derived from fossil oil, a fuel that can be produced sustainably.
Despite the technical feasibility, deployment has largely been limited to demonstration or research flights, or flights specifically sponsored by environmentally conscious corporates. Communication is needed to improve the understanding and engagement of necessary stakeholders. Governments have an important role to play. Without effective policy settings, the deployment of commercial sustainable aviation fuel will not achieve its potential.
Other sources:
https://aviationbenefits.org/environmental-efficiency/climate-action/sustainable-aviation-fuel/
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