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| Consumer backlash: could the airlines be in trouble soon? |
September 7, 2007 |
By Jim Harris
Flying is, by far, the worst means of travel in terms of climate change. Measure it any way you want— per passenger kilometre, per tonne kilometre, per dollar or per hour—flying is the most damaging way to move people and cargo.
And it’s not just carbon dioxide emissions, as bad as they are; airplanes also inject a cocktail of hydrocarbons, nitrogen oxides and sulfur dioxide into the upper atmosphere. This high-altitude chemical cocktail is four times more damaging in terms of climate change than comparable groundlevel emissions, according to a recent New Scientist article. Airline travel causes up to nine per cent of global human-induced climate change, according to an excellent 2006 report Clearing the Air: the Myth and Reality of Aviation and Climate Change by the European Federation for Transport and the Environment.
With increased public concern about the environment, airlines could be blindsided if they are unable to address consumers’ concerns. But for now, demand for air travel is actually up. In 2006, more than two billion passengers flew more than 2.4 trillion miles. And Boeing predicts passenger counts will double to four billion passengers in 2023—flying five trillion miles a year—thus making aviation the fastest-growing driver of climate change.
While the airline industry happily predicts growth, the world’s scientists are telling us we have to cut greenhouse gas emissions by up to 80 per cent by 2050 to stabilize climate change. If the airline industry’s growth predictions come to pass, by 2050 the majority of climate changing emissions worldwide will be coming just from airplanes. Clearly this is not sustainable—so the airline industry is due for a major comeuppance. Air travel as we know it today will have to change profoundly.
Business climate change
But political change is in the wind. In December 2006, the European Union proposed requiring all flights within Europe to enter Europe’s carbon trading scheme from 2011 on; a year later this would include all international flights arriving or departing any European airport. This would add $53 to an international flight.
 The response from airlines has varied dramatically. U.K.-based discounter Ryanair’s chief executive, Michael O’Leary, vowed to fight the EU’s plan. He called Sir Nicholas Stern’s report on climate change—which predicts that the failure to act aggressively on climate change will result in worldwide losses of more than US$7 trillion and the extinction of 40 per cent of species— “a lot of lies and misinformation [that] has been put about by eco nuts on the back of a report by an idiot economist.” This statement prompted U.K. Environment Minister Ian Pearson to describe O’Leary as “the unacceptable... irresponsible face of capitalism.”
By contrast, Sir Richard Branson, chairman of the Virgin Group of Companies, which owns Virgin Atlantic, committed to invest US$3 billion in biofuels and research over the next decade. This is Virgin Atlantic’s entire predicted profit over the period. The announcement in September 2006 was the boldest and most progressive initiative by any airline ever.
Branson will benefit in two ways. His airline will get business from environmentally conscious travellers and, as a biofuels leader, Virgin Fuels will benefit from the inevitable shift to sustainable fuel.
The offset option
As a middle-of-the-road approach, some airlines have begun selling carbon offsets at time of ticket purchase. These include British Airways, SAS and recently Air Canada.
If you want to go the offset route, my favourite is an Australian company called EasyBeingGreen (www.easybeinggreen.com.au). It sells government- certified offsets and is responsible for the retrofit of 500,000 of Australian homes with six fluorescent light bulbs, low-flow shower heads and faucet aerators. The initiative was so successful it spurred the Australian government to ban the sale of the 100-year-old technology—the incandescent bulb. EasyBeingGreen’s offset approach is my favourite because it involves community-based change and the company’s action resulted in political change.
Jim Harris is the author of the international bestseller Blindsided, published in 80 countries worldwide, and The Learning Paradox, nominated for the national business book award. E-mail him at jimh@jimharris.com
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