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Environmental and
economic pressures
Simon Michell looks at the aviation industry's current environmental and financial pressures
 
The Stern Report
has calculated
that aviation is
responsible for
12 per cent of the
total C02 emissions
emanating from
transport
 
From having a fairly low profile in the environ¬mental debate regarding climate change, aviation has jumped to the top of the agenda. Aircraft are now frequently perceived, by the public and a growing number of pressure groups, as some of the worst offenders when it comes to emitting the harmful gases that are damaging the planet's atmosphere.
WHAT ARE THE FACTS?
The UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), which is regularly quoted
as the most accurate and knowledgeable body on the subject, stated in their Working Group report of May 2007, that aviation cur¬rently accounts for 2 per cent of worldwide C02 emissions. This figure, it estimates, could rise to 3 per cent by the middle of the century, if current growth trends are maintained. The same report revealed that transport in general was responsible for 23 per cent of global greenhouse gas emis¬sions. Moreover, the influential Stern Report, which refers to the IPCC study on many occasions, has calculated that aviation is responsible for 12 per cent of the total C02 emissions emanating from transport.
Although these figures may at first seem somewhat negligible, it is the forecasted growth in air travel that is
 
causing the concern. Up until the credit crunch and the dramatic rise in the price of oil - up to $147/barrel - in July 2008, air traffic levels were set to double by 2020, prompting experts to suggest that this sort of growth could make aviation one of the world's worst polluters.
FLIGHT EFFICIENCY PLAN
Paradoxically, it was the sudden down¬turn in air traffic volumes, resulting from the dramatic rise in fuel prices that prompted EUR0C0NTR0L to speed up the rate at which it is helping the indus¬try to reduce fuel burn. The oil price increase hit the airlines' bottom lines and was instrumental in putting a number of them out of business. Therefore, in Sep¬tember 2008, EUR0C0NTR0L announced the Flight Efficiency Plan (FEP), together with the International Air Transport Association and the Civil Air Navigation Services 0rganisation.
The plan looks for fuel-saving oppor¬tunities through better airspace design, enhanced network availability, improved airport operations and better awareness of the need for everyone to consider fuel management as a core element
of their daily operations. "Much of this work already forms part of the Agency's Dynamic Management of the European Airspace Network programme," explains
 
Andrew Watt, EUR0C0NTR0L's environ¬ment domain manager, "but what the FEP will do is accelerate some of these things. 0ur role in FEP is a supportive one. We are managing the roll-out of Continuous Descent Approaches [CDA] and working to create a greater aware¬ness among the Air Traffic Management fraternity of how it can help the airlines to manage their fuel better."
Alongside this work, EUR0C0NTR0L is also reinforcing the benefits of its Collaborative Environmental Manage¬ment (CEM) process. CEM brings airport stakeholders together so they can work
in a co-ordinated manner to bring about environmentally friendly activities, such as CDAs and curved approaches, at a much faster rate. This is particularly vital for airport operators, which are the main focal point of local pressure groups that are demanding improvements around airports' environs.
Watt reveals that these pressure groups and local politicians often look to the air¬port operators to adopt innovative greener operations. However, as Watt explains: "They can't do that by themselves. They need to work with the airlines and the Air Navigation Service Providers." So, in effect, CEM creates a permanent committee of these three interdependent groups so that they can decide upon the best way of im¬plementing environmental programmes.
　
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