As the world's environment experts began to assemble in Kyoto, Japan, for the United Nations (UN)summit on global warming, amid the general pronouncements on climate change come some timely reminders that aviation remains firmly among the industries on the target list for environmental activists.
Among its other positioning papers in the run-up to Kyoto, the European Commission (EC)took the opportunity to slip in proposals for a further cut in nitrous-oxide (NOx)emissions for aero-engines. In many ways, the adoption of the proposals comes as little surprise. The EC has been threatening to go it alone on new NOx limits since the International Civil Aviation Organisation failed to win worldwide agreement on its own two years ago.
Neither will the new limits prove strenuous for Europe's airlines. Non-addition rules mean that the directive will not affect the region's existing fleet, while progress on emission control already made by engine makers means that current aircraft will have few problems.
Yet the EC action holds its warnings. First is the threat that regions such as Europe are coming under increasing pressure to go it alone on environmental measures if global consensus fails.That is cause for concern indeed.
Although the NOx rules may be fairly innocuous, the EC has been toying with its own tougher proposals on noise (essentially a Chapter 4)in the absence of global consensus.
The EC decision is also a reminder that, if the aviation industry cannot come up with its own proposals, then the politicians are prepared to take the initiative. The timing of the EC move seems specifically targeted to put political pressure on ICAO to put new NOx limits on the agenda.
For a glimpse of what happens when consensus breaks down, look no further than the piecemeal environmental limits now being imposed at Europe's main airports. The region's fourth largest hub, Amsterdam's Schiphol, is now facing a move to a new site in order to square the equation between increased growth and reduced noise pollution. That is despite the fact that 7%of the Dutch economy is estimated to be dependent on Schiphol.
There is also a growing anxiety over how the broader UN goals on climate change will be imposed on aviation. Until now, ICAO has had exclusive jurisdiction over aviation policy within the UN, and the International Air Transport Association has called for that to be reconfirmed at Kyoto. It points out that ICAO itself has requested the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change to prepare a report on Aviation and the Global Atmosphere. That aims to provide an assessment of the impact of engine emissions and evaluate the available solutions. It should give the industry a clearer idea of what it needs to do within the more global framework being laid out for limiting greenhouse gases. Alas, the report will not be out until March 1999, giving ample room for less considered action in the meantime.
As a reminder of the pressures on politicians, campaigners marked the opening of the Kyoto summit with a day of action across Europe, the USA and Australia to warn travellers of the dangers of air-transport growth. Calls to slow the "alarming" growth of air travel and to increase tax on aviation fuel were high on the agenda, accompanied by claims about the level of pollution that the industry causes - 3% of the world's fossil-fuel carbon dioxide output on their reckonings.
Such actions are likely to have limited, if any, impact on the world industry, but they continue to demonstrate that, while aviation may not be a traditional smokestack industry (and not in the same league as road transport), it remains a highly visible target for environmental campaigns.
There is much that the aviation industry can do to start solving the problems itself before solutions are imposed. A concerted attempt to improve load factors, or to end air-traffic-control inefficiencies (fewer delays/less engine time) would do more than any EC directive to limit emissions. It would also do much to improve the industry's bottom line and its image to boot.
Source: Flight International
