Research Paper on "Environmental Issues in Air Transport Industry That Relate to the 21st Century Aviation"

Research Paper 12 pages (3518 words) Sources: 5

[EXCERPT] . . . .

Air Transport

There are many environmental issues and problems related to the manner in which certain industries function. The Air Transport Industry has some specific environmental issues that it is facing in the 21st century. The purpose of this discussion is to examine the environmental issues in the Air Transport industry that relate to 21st century Aviation.

Air Transport and environment issues

There are several issues that are present in the aviation industry as it pertains to the environment. These issues include greenhouse gases and ways in which to reduce emissions. In addition, there are several strategies that have been embraced in the 21st century including the NexGen strategy that will be explored as an aspect of this discussion.

Greenhouse Gases

The problem of global warming has created a concern for the environment that has never existed before. Industries around the world have tried to focus on how they can alter the manner in which they function with the purpose of addressing environmental issues. As it pertains specifically to the Air Transport and Aviation industry one of the most prominent issues is greenhouse gases that are believed to be responsible for global warming. According to Zhang et al. (2010)

"Climate change has become an issue that has aroused much public concern around the world in recent years. In 2006 the world transport sector emitted 6.5 Giga tones of carbon dioxide (CO2), approximately 23% of CO2 emissions. According to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (2008) air transport could, based on a "business as usual scenario," grow from 14.8% in 2010 to 23.0% of transportation CO2 emissions in 2050. This is partially due to more readily available environmentally friendly energy in the future for ground-based transportation compared to air transport, as well as faster growth rate of air transport compared to other modes (Zhang et al., 2010)."

In addition, as with other forms of transportation the operation of airplanes and other types of aircraft creates greenhouse gases. The most prominent greenhouse gases produced by aircraft include Carbon Dioxide, oxides of nitrogen and water vapor (H2O) (Zhang et al., 2010). For the most part Carbon dioxide is the greenhouse gas that is the most prevalent and discussed as it pertains to aviation and the impact that operating aircraft has on the environment. The authors note that the impact that the air transport industry has on the environment is measured using radiative forcing. Radiative forcing is defined as "an externally imposed perturbation in the radiative energy budget of the Earth's climate system," and is estimated around 2 -- 4 times the CO2 emissions alone (Zhang et al., 2010)."

The author explains that the sir transport industry composes 1% of the world GDP, however the industry is responsible for 2 to 4% of greenhouse gas emissions in the world. The industry is also responsible for 2% of the climate change occurring and will likely be responsible for 3% of the world's climate change by the year 2050 (Zhang et al., 2010). Additionally travel by air has increased by 5% very year for the past twenty years and this growth rate is likely to continue for the foreseeable future (Zhang et al., 2010). Although the amount of fuel that the average aircraft uses has decreased over the past two decades the growth in the number of people traveling by air will lead to a continued increase in the amount of greenhouse gases. In 2007 the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change reported that "technology developments might offer a 40 -- 50% improvement in fuel efficiency by 2050 compared to 1997, but would still generate about 2 -- 3% increase in GHG per year due to growth assuming a business-as-usual scenario (the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change; Zhang et al.,2010)."

The authors further explain that there has been a great deal of public concern as it pertains to the role that aviation is playing in climate change and harming the environment. This concern has placed pressure on the industry to adapt new ways of controlling greenhouse gas emissions. To this end various governmental agencies around the world have taken unilateral and multilateral actions to fix the environmental threats posed by the air industry (Zhang et al., 2010). As it pertains to multilateral actions the Kyoto Protocol was ratified by a total of 180 countries and is designed to reduce the amount of greenhouse gas emissions (Zhang et al., 2010). The protocol includes domestic aviations emissions, however it does not set a standard on international emissions. However, the protocol does encourage countries to pursue policies that reduce greenhouse gas emissions from flights via the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) (Zhang et al., 2010). The purpose of this organization is to develop technologies and operational measures for managing the emission of greenhouse gases. However the ability of the organization to impact market-based measures is profoundly restricted. For instance in 2004, it was decided that the organization would not attempt to achieve .new global legal and market-based instruments.

Although the international efforts to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases have been slow to develop, there are some area of the world that have taken the reduction of Greenhouse emissions very seriously and they have implemented measures that strictly control emissions in the air transport industry. Such policies are most prevalent in the European Union which has developed Greenhouse house gas emissions from all airline flights within the EU and to and from the EU (Zhang et al., 2010). This policy is established in the European Emission Trading System (ETS) and is supposed to be implemented beginning in 2012 (Zhang et al., 2010). Under this particular policy the permitted emissions by air transportation are caped. In addition all airlines must have a certain amount of permits that demonstrate the CO2 pollution generated by its fleet of aircraft (Zhang et al., 2010). These permits are obtained via a trading process following an initial free distribution among airline carriers. In addition, the permit distribution would cap emissions at 97% of 2004 -- 2006 amounts (Zhang et al., 2010). This method is known as a "cap and trade" strategy and the United States has contemplated adopting a similar policy. The article further explains that in Great Britain

"an "Air Passenger Duty" is levied on all airline tickets sold in the UK. This government tax is designed to reduce CO2 emissions and to "raise funds to combat global warming" (Armstrong, 2007). In addition, the United Nation's Copenhagen Summit in December 2009 will confer on the inclusion of international aviation in the new international framework for combating climate change. Furthermore, it is conceivable for the ETS being extended out from its limited use in Europe (commencing in 2012) to a global scheme. The planned emission cap-and-trade systems generate a permit price that becomes part of an airline's cost structure. As discussed in Brueckner and Zhang (2009), with the carrier's required outlay on emissions permits varying in step with its fuel consumption, the permit price is effectively added to the price of fuel, even though the permits may be freely distributed (Zhang et al., 2010)."

With these things understood, the cap-and-trade method is comparable to the carbon-tax method that is applied to aviation as it relates to fuel cost acquired by airlines (Zhang et al., 2010). The authors further explains that whether or not the presence of policy interventions designed "to limit aviation emissions follow the EU's cap-and-trade approach or the UK's air travel carbon-emissions tax, they could all be depicted as policies that raise the fuel price paid by airlines (Zhang et al., 2010). The expectation is that the added cost to airlines would likely translate into higher air fares, thus lowering demand and ultimately lowering emissions (Zhang et al., 2010)."

Reliance of Fossil Fuels

Another major issue is the reliance that airlines have on fossil fuels that are used to create jet fuel. At the current time the negative impact of drilling for fossil fuels can be seen in the Gulf of Mexico. The United States is currently facing the worst oil spill in its history and this oil spill is in some ways present because of the high demand for oil that comes from the air transport industry. The amount of fuel needed to power these planes can be devastating to the environment and the ecosystem. Although this environmental issue may seem to be indirect, reliance of fossil fuels has created vast problems throughout the world including war and famine. In the 21st century such reliance can and must change.

Local Air Quality

In relation to the impact of greenhouse gases in terms of global warming, such emissions also impact local air quality. According to the Centre for Air Transport and the Environment (CATE), the operation of aircraft can lead to poor air quality in places that are close to commercial and private airports. The CATE asserts that "the impact of aircraft emissions on local air quality is becoming a capacity constraint for many airports because of new legislative and regulatory requirements ("Centre for… READ MORE

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