Decarbonization of air transport: when conventional wisdom goes out the window
“Why should we deprive ourselves when others have been able to enjoy it without limit before us?” When it comes to ecology, if there's ONE subject that crystallizes tensions as the vacations approach, or when we start to become aware of the climate issues at stake, it's the airplane.
A few days ago, the Climate Action Network published a fascinating report that puts the church back in the middle of the village: “How can we reduce air traffic fairly and effectively? In response to the defenders of air travel and technosolutionism, the association provides 55 pages of figures to explain not only why, but also how to reduce air traffic in France. Above all, it evaluates 9 concrete measures and debunks a few preconceived ideas along the way! We explain everything.
No more preconceived ideas
Who actually flies, and where do they go? By drawing up a sociological portrait of French passengers, the study dispels the most widespread clichés. And that's enough to give us some arguments for the next debates between friends.
“At least air travel is accessible to everyone!”
You'd think that the rise of low-cost airlines would have enabled less well-off families to travel more often. However, the first surprise is that Low Cost flights have not enabled more people to fly, but rather those who were already flying to do so even more often.
In the study, we learn that French people who take the plane are mainly well-to-do, city dwellers (an inhabitant of the Paris region is 2 times more likely than an inhabitant of a rural area to take the plane, all other things being equal), often executives, for leisure flights. In other words, “air travel tends to be for wealthy urbanites on vacation”.
Source : © Réseau Action Climat - “Comment réduire le trafic aérien de manière juste et efficace ?”
“My few trips a year aren't going to change the situation. The real culprits are those who fly for work!”
Another key figure from the study: leisure flights are responsible for 75% of the C02 emissions of French people who fly!
Business flights, on the other hand, occupy second place on the podium (ex-aequo with family flights), accounting for “only” 13% of greenhouse gas emissions.
We also learn that business flights are mostly taken by well-off people, mainly men in their forties, while family flights are taken by modest households to visit their families abroad.
“I only fly to the other side of the world anyway!”
On this subject, the figures are implacable: most greenhouse gas emissions are due to long-haul flights.
Even though long-haul flights (i.e. outside France, Europe and North Africa) account for only 20% of all flights, they are responsible for over 55% of the aviation sector's carbon footprint!
Conversely, while flights to mainland France (11%), Europe (26%) and North Africa (8%) account for three-quarters of all flights, they are responsible for less than half of all emissions.
The study's conclusion: if we are serious about decarbonizing air travel, long-haul flights cannot be ignored...
Source : © Réseau Action Climat - “Comment réduire le trafic aérien de manière juste et efficace ?”
“Relax, technology's on the case!”
Technological solutions (like biofuels, for example) are of course useful and welcome, and they give hope to many. But according to the association, they won't be enough.
The electric or hybrid aircraft. They already exist for flying clubs and are deployed by the aeronautics industry on very short routes (a few hundred kilometers, as the weight of the batteries makes it impossible to go any further). The problem is that, as we have seen, these short-haul routes account for “only a very modest share of the sector's emissions”. What's more, there is already an efficient rail alternative on many of these routes in France!
Hydrogen-powered aircraft. This could eventually decarbonize some short- and medium-haul flights. The problem is that it currently relies on “a number of technological gambles” that make its future uncertain. And in the most optimistic scenario, it would not be fully deployed until after 2050! Also, this technology is not envisaged for long-haul flights, which are responsible for 60% of the carbon footprint of the French aviation sector.
Biofuels. They can be mixed with kerosene, so no new aircraft are needed, and they can be produced at reasonable cost. The problem: biomass is limited and already used or coveted by other sectors, “which raises issues of competition of use (fertilization of agricultural land, heat production from biomass, etc.)”! So, with France's target of 5% biofuels by 2030, the impact on CO2 emissions from the aviation sector will remain modest in the years to come.
Synthetic fuels produced from renewable electricity, water and CO2. They can certainly help the climate (“provided that the CO2 required is biogenic or captured directly from the air”). The problem: overall efficiency is low, so the quantities of electricity required are immense. “According to Lufthansa's CEO, it would take 50% of Germany's electricity production to convert its entire fleet to synthetic fuels. Without a drop in air traffic, it seems unrealistic to develop sufficient production capacity, especially as the industrial sector does not yet exist”, the study points out.
In this context, if we are to respect the Paris agreements, a reduction in air traffic seems inevitable...
But really, what's the problem with air travel?
For the Climate Action Network, the question is no longer “should we reduce air traffic” but “how can we reduce it” in an efficient and socially just way?
There's a simple reason for this: the air transport sector accounts for 7% of CO2 emissions in France, and it's the only sector that hasn't begun to reduce its emissions.
Worse still, CO2 emissions from the air transport sector have been rising steadily for 30 years (despite the Covid period). Since the end of the health crisis, air traffic has even “resumed its unbridled growth: it has almost entirely returned to its pre-Covid level, boosted by international flights and low-cost airlines.”
Source : France 2 - JT du mercredi 20 septembre 2024
And to make matters worse, the International Air Transport Association (IATA) predicts that it will well exceed pre-Covid levels during 2024.
Source : CITEPA Secten 2019 / Aurélien Bigo
Frequent flyer tax, ban on private jets... What are the practical solutions?
Frequent flyer tax
For the association, the priority is to dissuade the minority who take the plane most often. And with good reason: “the richest 20% of French households account for 41.5% of greenhouse gas emissions from air transport” and “40.4% of flights are made by the richest 20%”!
Among the key proposals put forward by the Climate Action Network is a shock measure that has already made some noise (and has been rejected outright by the airlines): the “frequent flyer tax”. A progressive tax that increases with the distance flown and the frequency of flights. The tax would be very low for the first flight of the year, and very high for the fifth.
Source : France 2 - JT du mercredi 20 septembre 2024
According to the association, this measure, which would work in the opposite direction to frequent flyer systems such as “miles”, would reduce emissions from the air transport sector by 13%, while shifting the bulk of the effort onto the most regular passengers.
Nine possible solutions
In its report, the Climate Action Network proposes a total of 9 solutions to regulate the sector and limit climate change. From the simplest (such as raising the “Chirac Tax” on airline tickets, with a higher rate for private jets on hire, as proposed by the Citizens' Climate Convention) to the most radical (such as banning people from flying more than once a year).
Source : © Réseau Action Climat - “Comment réduire le trafic aérien de manière juste et efficace ?”
Train ! 🙂
As you can imagine, we couldn't end this article without talking about the low-carbon alternative par excellence: the train.
As we've seen, thinking about reducing air traffic is essential. But in our view, the battle is being waged on all fronts, and particularly on the terrain of the imagination.
Making trains desirable through positive narratives is precisely what gets us up every morning at HOURRAIL!. By offering train itineraries and showing that it's possible to make train travel fun and accessible, even to the ends of the earth (witness Delphine and Arnaud's experiences as far as Indonesia, or Victor and Léa's as far as Taiwan), we intend to get travel back on track!
As for concrete measures, the battle will also involve our wallets. To sign our petition to lower rail tolls, click here!
And to find out more, you can read the full report by the Climate Action Network, available here.
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