An Environmental Plan From The Aviation Industry  

ired has an article on a new aviation industry initiative to reduce carbon emissions - Aviation Industry Lays Out a Decent Environmental Plan.

It's easy to dismiss with a roll of the eyes anything the aviation industry says about addressing climate change, but the industry's latest plan contains a smart mix of policy and technology changes that could help the industry clean up its act.

The 11-point plan laid out in "Aviation and Climate Change: The Views of Aviation Industry Stakeholders" (.pdf) was developed by some of the industry's leading trade groups and addresses everything from general aviation and commercial carriers to aircraft manufacturers. It outlines a broad principles for the industry and policymakers to adhere to as they grapple with climate change, and makes it clear the industry wants to be more involved in the discussion -- and solution.

"President Obama has called for cap-and-trade legislation and that sends shudders down the spine of airlines in the U.S.," Christ Surgenor of Green Air Online told Wired.com. "This manifesto seems to be a proactive attempt to be involved in the growing climate change debate taking place with the new administration and ahead of attempts of attempts to include aviation emissions in the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change in Copenhagen in December."

Some of the proposals are typical aviation industry boilerplate. Advocating for a "comprehensive energy policy" is great, but the last time the industry tossed that term around it was talking about releasing fuel from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve and punishing energy speculators. Not exactly progressive policies. And the plan's insistence on a “cost-benefit analysis” where “potential benefits of regulation should be weighed against the cost to the economy, jobs, communities, and the transportation system” sounds like a convenient way of associating increased regulation with job losses.

But some of the ideas look good. Air traffic control system modernization is an expensive proposition, but among its many benefits are the cuts in emissions that follow reductions in the time planes spend circling busy airports. There's also no downside to increased and accelerated adoption of operational efficiencies like continuous descent approach, which reduces fuel consumption. The industry even seems amenable to greater scrutiny, saying it "supports more research on the effects of other non-carbon GHGs (green house gasses) in aviation." Perhaps most surprising, though, the plan suggests the aviation industry is prepared to pay for its pollution. Rather than dismiss plans like Europe’s carbon trading scheme out of hand, it asks only that revenues generated by such programs "be reinvested into initiatives that reduce aviation’s GHG emissions." ...

The manifesto has its share of rehashed bullet points, but on the whole its a significant step forward and reason to believe aviation's commitment to environmental issues is real -- and will continue moving forward.