Airlines can differentiate themselves, and consumers can select airlines, based on a number of ethical issues. For example, consumers might express their displeasure for a country by boycotting its national airline. This article confines itself to the issue of climate change. Potential air travellers might respond to the issue of climate change by travelling less and/or by using other modes of transport which are perceived as being more efficient (such as rail). This article further confines itself to the steps being taken by some airlines to offer services that are more ‘climate friendly’ and the response of consumers to those services.
Three approaches to climate change
Air travel is suspected of contributing significantly to climate change through a number of mechanisms (not just greenhouse gas emissions). Individual airlines and air travellers are currently utilizing/exploring three approaches to reduce their impact on climate:
- Carbon offsetting: Paying others to achieve a counterbalancing effect on climate through activities outside the air transport sector. Note that the effectiveness of carbon offsetting is criticised.
- Reducing air travel’s consumption of fossil fuels (air travel’s contribution to well-mixed greenhouse gases is completely dominated by the emission of carbon dioxide from burning fossil-derived aviation fuels[1],[2]). Two ways in which this can be done are:
- Improve fuel efficiency.
- Use a biofuel: This has some effect only if the biofuel has lower full-life-cycle greenhouse gas emissions.
Carbon offsetting
Independent of airline
Carbon offsetting organizations emerged into the mainstream in the latter half of the 1990s[3]. Today there are a large number of such organizations that passengers can use to offset a flight. Their products differ in method used to determine impact on climate, method used to offset impact on climate, price, and so on. Kollmuss and Bowell have compiled a review of the organizations and their products[4]. In recent years, the quantity of offsets sold has grown rapidly but the fraction of flights that are offset in this way remains negligible[5] (and this is despite the fact that the cost of an offset is typically of order only 1% of the cost of an airfare[6]).
Through airline
Voluntary participation
Airlines can offer carbon offsets to their passengers (in such a program, passengers that wish to participate pay the airline an additional charge — the airline then uses the money to purchase appropriate offsets for the passenger’s flight from a carbon offsetting organization). British Airways was the first major airline to establish such a program (in September 2005)[7],[8]. Initially British Airways kept its program largely hidden from its passengers, resulting in very low passenger participation. This was later criticised by the British government[9]. Since then many more airlines have introduced offset programs. For example, in June 2007 Delta Air Lines became the first major U.S. airline to introduce such a program[10]. Airlines have also become much more aggressive at marketing their programs to passengers. For example, JetStar
Mandatory participation
References
- ↑ M.V.Chester, Life-cycle Environmental Inventory of Passenger Transportation in the United States (UCB-ITS-DS-2008-1, Fall 2008).
- ↑ AMR Corporation, Environmental Responsibility Report (3MB) 2007.
- ↑ Future Forests (which became the The CarbonNeutral Company) was one of the first to sell carbon offsets to consumers and businesses and it originated in 1997 (information from a webpage of The CarbonNeutral Company, accessed 21 January 2009).
- ↑ A.Kollmuss and B.Bowell Voluntary Offsets For Air-Travel Carbon Emissions: Evaluations and Recommendations of Voluntary Offset Companies (0.64MB) Revision 1.3 (Tufts Climate Initiative, 5 April 2007).
- ↑ S.Gössling, J.Broderick, P.Upham, J-P.Ceron, G.Dubois, P.Peeters, and W.Strasdas ‘Voluntary Carbon Offsetting Schemes for Aviation: Efficiency, Credibility and Sustainable Tourism’ Journal of Sustainable Tourism 15, 223–248 (2007).
- ↑ Based on quotes obtained from American Airlines and The CarbonNeutral Company in January 2009 for a flight in February 2009 from New York to Los Angeles.
- ↑ British Airways press release, ‘Carbon offset scheme launched’ (12 September 2005).
- ↑ J.Prynn, ‘BA asks all passengers to offset flights’, Evening Standard, 15 January 2008.
- ↑ Environmental Audit Committee, The Voluntary Carbon Offset Market — Sixth Report of Session 2006–07, Report HC 331 (House of Commons, London, 2007).
- ↑ The Conservation Fund news release ‘Delta to Launch Worldwide Carbon Offset Program for Customers This Summer’ (18 April 2007).
- ↑ Anja Kollmuss & Jessica Lane, Carbon Offsetting & Air Travel Part 1: CO2-Emissions Calculations (Stockholm Environment Institute, May 2008)