Biofuels Digest Special Report on Aviation Biofuels: Policy

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) has set a goal of making planes 25 percent more fuel efficient by 2022, and “zero emission” planes within 50 years, but with airlines expected to increase fleet size by 140 percent in the next 20 years, such an effort would not keep pace with the rate of airline fleet growth.

Giovanni Bisignani, Director General and CEO of IATA said, “Air transport takes its environmental responsibility seriously. Alongside safety and security it is a pillar on which we have built a great global industry.Despite our good track record, air transport’s carbon footprint is growing. That is not acceptable. Our vision is for air transport to achieve carbon neutral growth in the medium-term, on the way to a carbon emission free future.”

On the US front, the Air Transport Association has set a goal of reducing emissions by 30 percent per passenger by 2025.

Meanwhile, 21 countries adopted a declaration on aviation and marine emissions and called on the International Civil Aviation Organization and the International Maritime Organization to commence new talks on emissions by year end. The Ministerial Conference on Global Environment and Energy in Transport  held in Tokyo late last week, ministers adopted a declaration that emphasized future actions in the transport sector to tackle climate change and air pollution. The minsters agreed to encourage R&D for sustainable alternative aviation fuels, and support efforts to standardize reporting on aviation related emissions.

In a related effort on emissions, ACI Europe, CANSO, Eurocontrol and IATA launched an initiative to reduce the CO2 emitted by aircraft in Europe by more than 500,000 tonnes a year. The plan involves implementation of  Continuous Descent Approach (CDA) at up to 100 airports across Europe by the end of 2013. The plan will reduce fuel burn by between 50 and 150 kg for a short-to-medium haul aircraft, and  CO2 emissions by 160 to 470 kg per flight. The group said that airlines will save 150,000 tonnes of fuel and 100 million Euros a year with the plan.

Free Subscription to the Daily Biofuels Digest e-newsletter

Related Stories

Biofuels Digest Special Report on Aviation Biofuels: Commercial flights by 2012/13, algae the future

[caption id="attachment_8817" align="alignright" width="300" caption="A Continental Boeing 737 soars above George Bush International Airport in Houston, in a successful biofuels test of algae and jatr...

KLM to test biofuels with passengers on flight, on November 23

In the Netherlands, KLM announced that it would become the first airline to test biofuels on a passenger flight. The company said that it would utilize a 50/50 mixture of camelina and standard jet fue...

India ministerial group approves National Bio-Fuel Policy; avoids key decisions on biodiesel, jatropha support

In India, agriculture minister Sharad Pawar announced that a ministerial group supervising energy policy has approved the National Bio-fuel Policy, including the formation of a National Bio-fuel Coord...

Biofuels Digest celebrates first anniversary: Top 10 Stories of the Year; 10 Stories We Should Have Read; 10 Most Offbeat

Today, BiofuelsDigest.com celebrates its first anniversary with a special look back at: The 10 Most Popular Stories of the Year 10 Stories That We Probably Should Have Read The 10 Most Offbea...

Biofuels Digest Special Report on Aviation Biofuels: Commercialization outlook

The consistent message from airlines and aircraft manufacturers is that the certification of biofuels for regular commercial flights is in the 2012/13 timeline. Boeing spokesman Terrance Scott said th...

Biofuels Digest Special Report on Aviation Biofuels: Aircraft Manufacturers

Airbus and Boeing have announced radically different timelines for the widespread adoption of biofuels in commercial aviation. The vice-president and general counsel of Airbus projected an eight to te...