Sir, – The articles "Aviation is the red meat in the greenhouse gas sandwich" (Analysis, January 29th) and "Aviation emissions set to grow sevenfold over 30 years, experts warn" (January 26th) seem to ignore the aviation sector's commitment to reducing its climate impact. Aviation was one of the first industries to set ambitious goals to reduce carbon emissions at a global level 10 years ago and, since then, has improved CO2 efficiency faster than the global economy. Heavy investments in climate action include aerospace manufacturers spending over $15 billion per year in developing more fuel-efficient aircraft. Thanks to the industry's long track record of efficiency gains through innovation, we are able to provide more connectivity for business, trade and tourism, while decoupling our CO2 emissions from passenger growth – in fact, a flight taken today produces around half the CO2 that the same flight would have in 1990. But we are not finished with efficiency gains.
Global aviation produces 2 per cent of man-made CO2, about the same as the IT sector. We have a long-term goal to halve our emissions by 2050 and are working to introduce new aircraft technology, more efficient operations and new types of energy including sustainable fuels which will bring our emissions down. Responding particularly to the unsubstantiated statement that “ICAO introduced a global scheme in 2016, after much foot-dragging. So far, however, it has had limited success”. Already, 78 countries have agreed to take part in the first, voluntary, phase of the scheme with more joining the mandatory stages later on. Far from “foot-dragging”, the industry has pushed for this world-first system and whilst progress sometimes seems slow, intergovernmental negotiations often are – that’s the nature of pioneering. – Yours, etc,
HALDANE DODD,
Head of Communications,
Air Transport Action Group,
Geneva,
Switzerland.