Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
S
USTAINABILITY
AND
AVIATION
:
PROBLEMS
AND
SOLUTIONS
Beatrice Schell, T&E
1
The problems
Aviation produces local air pollution, noise and climate change. In the European Union
(EU) it also contributes to the economic inefficiencies of our transport system and
harms the quality of life of vast numbers of European citizens. While it is still com-
mon to promote aviation's so-called benefits (freedom, mobility, prestige, etc), the
benefits that we all take for granted are being increasingly outweighed by the costs
that the air transport sector poses to our society.
The problems are hardly minor. Aviation noise is creating health and psycholog-
ical problems, hindering learning and globally exposing several millions of citizens
to significantly disturbing noise levels. Local air pollution, to which aviation con-
tributes, is a cause of health problems and can trigger fatality in vulnerable people.
Perhaps most ominous, aviation is the fastest growing source of greenhouse gases
and thus contributes to climate change.
These impacts should not come as a surprise. Their associated costs are referred
to by economists as externalities because the people who cause them don't have to
pay for them. More than this, aviation has benefited during the last 50 years from
many direct and indirect subsidies generously and indifferently granted by most coun-
tries' governments. What other sector is experiencing 5 per cent per year growth
2
,
growth which is inevitably off-setting environmental efficiencies and having major
negative effects? The aviation industry and its defenders argue that major efforts
have already been made to improve the fuel efficiency of the sector. They also point
out that noise and other standards have already brought about improved technology
to deal with environmental problems; and that they are currently very active in
developing instruments that can help tackle some of the environmental problems
aviation causes. To be fair, it is true that noise standards have become more stringent
over the years and that much is being done in and around airports to tackle some of
the problems of air pollution. Yet, in terms of carbon dioxide (CO
2
) emissions, the
right technology is not yet available and the fuel efficiency improvements are insuf-
ficient to even limit the growth in emissions.
3
Much more is needed to deal with
this serious problem - including curbing the strong growth of the sector.
Decision-making for solutions
Citizens have been complaining for a long time about noise and health problems
created by aviation, waiting for their elected governments to act. Until recently, they
have had little support; but now a number of environmental organizations have become
active in political discussions about aviation's impact on the environment. My orga-
nization was one of the first. There are many different levels for decision-making when
it comes to aviation and its environmental impact, and here environment impact is
taken to mean climate change.
