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Pressure mounts on aviation industry over climate change – ‘but technology needed to drastically reduce its carbon footprint is still out of reach’

https://phys.org/news/2019-06-pressure-mounts-aviation-industry-climate.html

Under pressure from frequent flyers alarmed over climate change, the airline industry says it is “hellbent” on reducing emissions—but the technology needed to drastically reduce its carbon footprint is still out of reach.

In recent months climate activists have stepped up efforts to convince travellers to boycott , with Swedish schoolgirl and campaigner Greta Thunberg spearheading the trains-over-planes movement and making “flygskam”, or flight shame, a buzzword in the Scandinavian country.

“The sector is under considerable pressure,” admitted Alexandre de Juniac, chief executive of the International Air Transport Association (IATA), whose members met this week in Seoul.

The industry has been under fire over its , which at 285 grams of CO2 emitted per kilometre travelled by a passenger far exceed all other modes of transport. Road transportation follows at 158 and rail travel is at 14, according to European Environment Agency figures.

De Juniac said the industry was “hellbent” on lowering emissions but the sector is also accused of underestimating its , with the IATA chief lobbying heavily against a “green tax” on aviation backed by several countries including the Netherlands.

“Often these taxes are absorbed in the budgets of states and are spent on whatever they want, except the environment,” he said.

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