Aviation Emissions

When looking at aviation’s contribution to our overall emissions, it is helpful to look at two different types of emissions, the first being local air quality pollutants (near the ground) and the other being greenhouse gases (emissions at altitude). It’s important to note that as aviation grows as an industry, there will also be an increase in the amount of emissions produced by aviation transportation vehicles. According to the FAA (2005), “currently aviation contributes 0.4 percent” of the national NOx (harmful pollutant) inventory (p. 4). The FAA (2005) also stated that when compared to aviation, emissions from road transportation modes out number aviation emissions (p. 8). The FAA (2005) further stated that because an aircraft is operated at altitude, most of the emissions would not have a ridiculous affect on local air quality on the ground (p. 8).

            In the same source above, published by the FAA (2005), the transportation industry was cited for making up about 27 percent of the national emissions of greenhouse gases where aviation is about 2.7 percent of the national inventory (p. 10). We can see that the aviation industry does in fact contribute to air pollution, however as of this 2005 report, it is a fairly small number. With that said, the FAA (2005) does project that “aircraft greenhouse gas emissions in the US will increase 60 percent by 2025” (p. 10).

            With this projection, and others like it, comes a need to combat the harmful emissions produced by aircraft. In October of this year the UN ratified an agreement in Paris, one of which the US was a part of, to govern emissions from international airline flights. Joan Lowy (2016) reported that the agreement sets airlines' carbon emissions in the year 2020 as the upper limit of what carriers are allowed to discharge” (para. 2). “Airlines that exceed that limit in future years, as most are expected to do, will have to offset their emissions growth by buying credits from other industries and projects that limit greenhouse gas emissions” (Lowy, 2016, para. 2).

            This is arguably the first major step the UN has provided towards limiting the amount of pollutants produced by international airlines. The first phase of the plan, covering 2021 to 2027, is voluntary for UN members and becomes mandatory from 2028 through 2035. The 15-year plan is expected to reduce carbon emissions by 2.5 billion tons (Lowy, 2016, para. 7). According to Lowy (2016), “the deal applies only to international flights, which account for about 60 percent of aviation” (para. 10). The Paris agreement also calls for new emission reduction regulations to be put into place. The is an agreement that our new president-elect is not on board with. Donald Trump has stated that “the climate change deal is bad for US business and said that the pact allows foreign bureaucrats control over how much energy we use” (BBC, 2016, para. 12). He further commented that "any regulation that's outdated, unnecessary, bad for workers or contrary to the national interest will be scrapped and scrapped completely,” and that “we’re going to do all this while taking proper regard for rational environmental concerns” (BBC, 2016, para. 5 & 6).

            While I fully believe in responsibly taking measures to ensure that our environment is looked after, especially in with regards to aircraft emissions in a growing aviation industry, I think that the responsibility should first fall on the airline operators and aircraft engine manufacturers before we move onto a UN agreement. I say give the engineers more of a chance in reducing the carbon footprint left by their engines. Lowy (2016) stated in her article that US airlines “carried 24 percent more passengers and cargo in 2015 than they did in 2000, while improving their fuel efficiency by 31 percent and emitting 6 percent less CO2” (Lowy, 2016, para. 18). I think our efforts should be focused more on engineering a way to reduce emissions rather than taking the time and effort to set up a system of trading carbon credits.

References

BBC News. (2016). Donald Trump Would ‘Cancel’ Paris Climate Deal. Retrieved from http://www.bbc.com/news/election-us-2016-36401174

Federal Aviation Administration. (2005). Aviation & Emissions A Primer. Retrieved from https://www.faa.gov/regulations_policies/policy_guidance/envir_policy/media/aeprimer.pdf

Lowy, J. (2016, Oct. 6). UN Agreement Reached on Aircraft Climate-Change Emissions. U.S. News. Retrieved from http://www.usnews.com/news/business/articles/2016-10-06/un-agreement-reached-on-aircraft-climate-change-emissions