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Sustainability In The Aviation Industry

Sustainability is currently the talk of the town. With growing concerns of global warming, rising sea levels, leading to climate change, these are issues not be trifled with. The aviation industry contributes 32.5 Gigaton of carbon dioxide every year which equates to 24% of global emission due to the high consumption rate of energy (Amicarelli et al., 2021). As the demand for travel in the aviation industry is expected to grow from approximately 4 billion passengers annually to 8 billion passengers annually by 2040 (IATA, 2023), the amount of pollution generated by the aviation industry will also increase concurrently. If nothing was done to lower these numbers, the rate of climate change will increase substantially to unsustainable levels, making the earth uninhabitable.

What has been done?

Innovation has been the cornerstone of sustainability as many new ideas are being developed to tackle the issues faced on sustainability be it new inventions, or new processes as many aviation companies are striving towards net zero carbon footprint within the next few decades. The adoption of sustainable alternatives such as bio-fuels is one of the methods used to reduce the rate of carbon emissions. Currently most airliners are working towards adopting sustainable fuel by using a mix of 50% bio-fuel with traditional gasoline, in the near future, many are hoping that the goal of 100% sustainable fuel can be achieved which could significantly lower carbon footprint generated by the aviation industry (Marsh, 2008).

Apart from using sustainable alternatives, reducing paper waste is also another move towards sustainability. Drawing example from my organization, the Republic of Singapore Airforce, there has been initiatives that moves towards a paperless work environment. Due to the high consumption of paper from various documents, we have slowly transitioned towards e-copies. From training documents, to technical manuals, all of which has been converted to e-copies which could be readily accessed through various devices. The most recent change is the implementation of e-copies on aircraft documentation in which all records are keyed in using a working tablet and stored in the cloud. This new initiative has eradicated the traditional paper format, eliminating waste significantly. As important documents as such needs to be stored for a period of time as mandated by the law, this new implementation can also create space and capacity for the betterment of the organization. By employing technology, it can also eliminate significantly which reduces carbon footprint that can deter climate change from deteriorating further, or at least slow it down.

References

Amicarelli, V., Lagioia, G., Patruno, A., Grosu, R. M., & Bux, C. (2021). Enhancing the sustainability of the aviation industry: Airlines’ commitment to “Green” practices. Amfiteatru Economic, 23(S15), 934. https://doi.org/10.24818/ea/2021/s15/934 

IATA. (2023, June). Global Outlook for Air Transport Highly Resilient, Less Robust. International Air Transport Association. https://www.iata.org/en/iata-repository/publications/economic-reports/global-outlook-for-air-transport----june-2023/

Marsh, G. (2008). Biofuels: aviation alternative? Renewable Energy Focus, 9(4), 48–51. https://doi.org/10.1016/s1471-0846(08)70138-0