Sustainable Aviation

Greening the Flight Path

Thomas Walker, Angela Stefania Bergantino, Northrop Sprung-Much, Luisa Loiacono, Thomas Walker, Angela Stefania Bergantino, Northrop Sprung-Much, Luisa Loiacono

• Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
• Year: 2019
• Print ISBN: 9783030286606
• eBook ISBN: 9783030286613
• Topic: Biological Sciences
• Subtopic: Management
• Index: Biological Sciences

This book highlights the latest research in the field of Sustainable Aviation. In recent decades, there have been considerable improvements in aircraft efficiency and noise reduction. However, with the demand for both passenger and freight transportation expected to increase significantly in future years, the aviation sector is becoming a growing source of environmental problems and a major contributor to global warming.

Focusing on the need to address this mounting problem, this book discusses important new trends and outlines likely future developments in carbon emission reduction, carbon trading, and the impact of emerging technologies, as well as social, legal, and regulatory changes as they pertain to the aviation sector.

The book offers an invaluable reference guide for practitioners, regulators, academics, and students alike, in fields ranging from business and engineering to the social sciences. It can be used as a textbook, and will benefit anyone interested in the future of aviation and our planet.

Thomas Walker is Full Professor of Finance at Concordia University, Canada. Having worked for various international firms, he is an active consultant and has published more than 50 journal articles and books.

Angela Stefania Bergantino is Full Professor of Transport Economics at the University of Bari, Italy. She is an active consultant and has authored over 50 peer-reviewed articles on public economics, transport economics, and regulatory issues.

Northrop Sprung-Much is a Ph.D. candidate in Finance at the John Molson School of Business, Concordia University, Canada. His main research interests are in risk management, carbon trading, and environmental economics.

Luisa Loiacono holds a Master of Science in Management from the University of Bari, Italy and a Master in Green Management from Bocconi University, Italy. Her research interests include carbon trading, environmentalpolitics, and sustainable aviation.

© The Author(s) 2020

T. Walker et al. (eds.)Sustainable Aviationhttps://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-28661-3_1

Begin Abstract

1. Recent Developments in Sustainable Aviation: An Overview

Angela Stefania Bergantino¹  , Kalima Vico²   and Thomas Walker²  

(1)

Department of Economics, Management and Business Law, University of Bari, Bari, Italy

(2)

Department of Finance, Concordia University, Montreal, QC, Canada

 

 

Angela Stefania Bergantino

Email: [email protected]

 

Kalima Vico

 

Thomas Walker (Corresponding author)

Email: [email protected]

End Abstract

Climate change is arguably one of the biggest problems humankind is facing today. To address and hopefully mitigate the rise in global temperatures, we have to develop solutions that include changing our own personal habits toward more sustainable practices. In addition, on a broader scale, we have to examine and change the way certain industries are operating and how they are regulated.

Aviation is one of the main forms of transportation. Due to the increasingly global nature of commerce and tourism, there is an increased need for air travel and transport, to move both people and resources over large distances. As the aviation industry grows, the need for that growth to be environmentally and socially sustainable is imperative. The chapters we have collected in this book highlight the importance of sustainability in aviation, offer some criticism on the measures and policies used to enforce sustainability, and provide recommendations and in some cases visionary frameworks on how to best handle the sector’s imminent expansion. Contributors include pilots, experts in sustainability, consultants, and academics who share the same concern for the future of our planet and who offer solutions and thoughts aimed at ensuring a sustainable future for the aviation industry.

The book opens with a leadership piece by Walter Palmer, entitled “Sustaining Flight: Comprehension, Assessment, and Certification of Sustainability in Aviation.” The chapter focuses on the difficulties of defining sustainability and the urgency to clarify the term in order to create less subjective regulations. In addition, it offers a constructive criticism of industry organizations attempting to reduce the emissions footprint in the aviation industry. The author emphasizes the need for the aviation sector to achieve a zero-carbon footprint.

Kenneth Button’s following chapter, “Boulding, Brundtland, Economics, and Efforts to Integrate Air Transportation Policies into Sustainable Development,” adds to Palmer’s ideas by highlighting the need of acting now. He offers a constructive and inspiring piece by examining the Brundtland Commission Report, discussing the notion of sustainable development and the transition to a sustainable future, and reflecting upon Pigouvian market failures and other challenges of sustainable aviation.

Following this chapter, Thomas Budd, Mario Intini, and Nicola Volta present the issue of externalities that the aviation industry is plagued with in their chapter “Environmentally Sustainable Air Transport: A Focus on Airline Productivity.” They offer a discussion on how these externalities (e.g., noise pollution, CO₂ emissions, and waste generation) are an impediment to growth. They argue that reforms that intend to ensure the sustainable growth of the aviation industry need to strike a balance between the environmental and economic aspects of air transportation.

The following chapter, titled “The Analysis of the Sustainability Commitment Formulation and Implementation for the Selected Airlines,” by Margaryta Radomska and Larysa Cherniak specifies the need for applying consistent environmental management within a suitable framework. They perform a detailed analysis of 60 documents issued by 35 airlines in which the respective firms discuss their approach toward sustainable management and explore the effectiveness of each airline’s sustainability strategy.

In the following chapter, titled “Environmental Policies in European Aviation: A Stakeholder Management Perspective,” Marina Efthymiou and Andreas Papatheodorou examine two European policies, namely the Single European Sky (SES) and the European Union Emission Trading Scheme (EU ETS). They perform a stakeholder analysis to allow for a detailed understanding of the effects of each policy and to evaluate the transaction costs within both of them.

Angela Stefania Bergantino and Luisa Loiacono dive further into the EU ETS with their chapter “Market-Based Measures: The European Union Emission Trading Scheme and the Carbon Offsetting and Reduction Scheme for International Aviation.” They provide a detailed exploration of the various components of the EU ETS, review its development over time, and critically discuss the impact of the January 2019 introduction of the Carbon Offsetting and Reduction Scheme for International Aviation (CORSIA). They perform a series of experiments to demonstrate how the auction system works and how the market arrives at an equilibrium. In addition, they provide an overview of recent price trends in the EU ETS and, with the help of a linear regression, highlight several problems from which the Emission Trading System suffers.

The chapter “Impact of Air Transport on the Noise Level in the City of Sofia” by Stela Todorova and Kaloyan Haralampiev presents a case analysis of Bulgaria’s capital Sofia. In their paper, the authors highlight the problem of noise pollution in Sofia and offer recommendations on how to best address this important externality. Their study uses detailed data on noise levels and air traffic which they analyze with a series of statistical models aimed at exploring their connection.

The subsequent chapter by Dimitrios J. Dimitriou and Maria F. Sartzetaki, titled “Social Dimensions of Aviation on Sustainable Development,” explores the economic and non-economic challenges the aviation sector faces in its transition toward sustainability. They use a top-down approach and assessment methodology in order to evaluate the social benefits of aviation in accordance with the Sustainable Development Goals. They focus on various qualitative indicators such as human resource development, the social effect on communities, climate change, connectivity, safety, service quality, and system availability in order to evaluate the social dimensions of aviation.

The chapter “An Element-by-Element Approach for a Holistic Estimation of the Airport Carbon Footprint” by Maria Nadia Postorino and Luca Mantecchini examines airport emissions by performing an element-by-element (EbE) analysis of the various functions an airport performs. As a result, they are able to estimate just how big the carbon footprint of an airport really is.

Relatedly, in their chapter “Can Laboratory Experiments Help in Evaluating Emission Trading Schemes? A Pilot Experiment on Aviation Allowances: Lessons to Be Learned,” Sabrina Armenio, Angela Stefania Bergantino, and Andrea Morone explore whether laboratory experiments can be effective in evaluating emission trading schemes such as the EU ETS. They offer recommendations on how to construct the most effective experiment and discuss the benefits of doing so.

Our last three chapters take a refreshing look at new approaches that are being implemented and positive changes that are taking place in the industry. First, Selçuk Ekici, İlkay Orhan, Hikmet Karakoç, and Arif Hepbasli discuss energy requirements and the need for alternative fuels in the aviation sector in their chapter “Milestone of Greening the Flight Path: Alternative Fuels.” They argue that in the future, a given country’s development will depend to a large extent on the sustainability of its energy. In their study, they focus on alternative and renewable fuels, emphasizing their differences, and comparing their advantages and disadvantages. They conclude that the criticisms surrounding some alternative fuels can likely be overcome by further technological advancements in future years.

Marco Percoco follows the search for solutions with his chapter “External Benefits of Smart Payment Tools for Airport Train Services” in which he attempts to evaluate the advantages of using advanced payment services in airport commuter trains. In his paper, he explores the benefits smart payment systems provide in the form of reduced transaction costs and reduced waiting time. He does so by evaluating a survey on the topic and by performing a cost–benefit analysis.

The final chapter in our book, entitled “Sustainable Alternative Air Transport Technologies,” by Andreas Hardeman showcases some of the recent (and forthcoming) advancements in the aviation industry, including supersonic flights, hybrid planes, and cargo drones. Hardeman offers a critical discussion of these developments from both a legal perspective and in terms of the need for new regulations. He notes that the classification of these new technologies is challenging, e.g., with respect to the applicability of ICAO’s Standards and Recommended Practices.

Ultimately, the chapters featured in this book should be of interest to anyone who works in or deals with the aviation industry or who conscientiously uses air transportation. The chapters not only provide ample food for thought, but also offer detailed suggestions for change by highlighting, e.g., the sustainability and economic efficiency of current industry standards and by critically evaluating the externalities of aviation. Air transportation is clearly expanding, as is its potential impact on the environment—which is why this topic is more important now than it was ever before. As a passenger, you can evaluate how sustainable a given way of traveling is and make an informed decision about which mode of transportation (e.g., rail vs. plane) or which carrier you want to use. In addition, as a regulator/policy maker/aviation professional, you can change the industry from the inside. We hope that our book provides readers with the inspiration to do so.

© The Author(s) 2020

T. Walker et al. (eds.)Sustainable Aviationhttps://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-28661-3_2

Begin Abstract

2. Sustaining Flight: Comprehension, Assessment, and Certification of Sustainability in Aviation

Walter Palmer¹

(1)

Independent Writer and Researcher, Guelph, ON, Canada

Walter Palmer

End Abstract

Global warming and climate change preoccupy us and figure very prominently when we think about sustainability. That is especially true when considering the energy-intensive nature of commercial aviation. Many commercial air carriers, governments, regulators, and industry organizations therefore engage vigorously on the matter, striving for reduced fuel consumption, and also new fuels that are lower in net carbon content. At the larger international scale, when we examine the activity of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), we see that the focus has been CORSIA—the Carbon Offsetting and Reduction Scheme for International Aviation. This policy initiative is not in full effect at this point; therefore, it is difficult to assess it properly, but the rationale for CORSIA was excellent: The industry needed sustainable flight energy—fuel—but while that new fuel technology developed, and to satisfy emissions reductions goals that commercial aviation wanted to get started on quickly—no emissions increase from 2020, 50% reduction in emissions by 2050 (IATA, n.d.)—some sort of offsetting or carbon reduction crediting would be needed (IATA, n.d.). And markets for carbon credit instruments already existed as examples. But, it is possible that preoccupation with offsetting has had the effect of leaving the fuel matter somewhat to one side.

Sustainable fuel ventures and carbon offset schemes are, in some ways, difficult to compare. The former produces, for the air travel industry, an actual amount of the fuel commodity. It does this in a way that reduces net carbon emissions. By contrast, the latter creates an economic circumstance for the introduction of a measure that prevents carbon emissions or causes the absorption of atmospheric carbon. But offsets take place independent of geography and have nothing directly to do with flight. There might be a hydroelectric project that promises to reduce a country’s power generation emissions. Or maybe there is a project to plant trees. But an essential point, here, is that while fuel and offsets have certain differences, the production of fuel and the activity that an offset is designed to fund are activities that take place in the physical and human world and are (or should be) assessable on a common basis in terms of sustainability.

If standards for offsetting initiatives—including matters related to the sustainability of the actual projects that are funded—are not rigorous, they perhaps allow a certain laxity that might favor different jurisdictions or organizations that want their particular scheme to be included where a more demanding standard and certification process might leave them aside. This has the effect of reducing overall progress toward sustainability. Compounding that evolution, there may be a desire to apply such sustainability standards to alternative fuel ventures, too (Lyle 2018). And it is true that a virtually identical sustainability standard must apply to things that substitute for one another in aviation. Otherwise, good fuel programs could be gamed by lax offset programs, or vice versa.

Considering the capital requirement and the time it will take for new, non-kerosene-burning air transport to be developed (Palmer 2016), reduced-carbon fuel is the only answer we will have during the time frame within which carbon mitigation is generally considered: to 2050. If massive, cheap, technical atmospheric carbon extraction becomes feasible quickly, the equations change. There is no apparent evidence of any such significant or imminent capacity. But carbon can be extracted from the atmosphere at great scale through such things as land use modification that results in banking quanta of carbon. The resulting commercial value of such carbon sequestration and other carbon-reducing activities, as offsets, through policies, such as the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM), has been low (Martin et al. 2016). Nevertheless, it should be kept in mind that in a notional configuration of climate change mitigation efforts where actual emissions had become low, sequestrati...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Front Matter
• 1. Recent Developments in Sustainable Aviation: An Overview
• 2. Sustaining Flight: Comprehension, Assessment, and Certification of Sustainability in Aviation
• 3. Boulding, Brundtland, Economics, and Efforts to Integrate Air Transportation Policies into Sustainable Development
• 4. Environmentally Sustainable Air Transport: A Focus on Airline Productivity
• 5. The Analysis of the Sustainability Commitment Formulation and Implementation for the Selected Airlines
• 6. Environmental Policies in European Aviation: A Stakeholder Management Perspective
• 7. Market-Based Measures: The European Union Emission Trading Scheme and the Carbon Offsetting and Reduction Scheme for International Aviation
• 8. Impact of Air Transport on the Noise Level in the City of Sofia
• 9. Social Dimensions of Aviation on Sustainable Development
• 10. An Element-by-Element Approach for a Holistic Estimation of the Airport Carbon Footprint
• 11. Can Laboratory Experiments Help in Evaluating Emission Trading Schemes? A Pilot Experiment on Aviation Allowances: Lessons to Be Learned
• 12. Milestone of Greening the Flight Path: Alternative Fuels
• 13. External Benefits of Smart Payment Tools for Airport Train Services
• 14. Sustainable Alternative Air Transport Technologies
• Back Matter