Ziwira Travel August

NEWSEPa to Cut airplaneEmissionsFirst steps are being taken to create global green standards for aviation.According to the Environmental ProtectionAgency (EPA), emissions from airplanesendanger human health because of theircontribution to global warming. While no specificnew requirements have been imposed on airlines yet,the agency has been asked to define the rules, as it hasalready done for motor vehicles and power plants.Discussions are currently taking place within theInternational Civil Aviation Organization, the UnitedNations agency which is in charge of aviation rules.The EPA said it would publish its final set of rules uponcompletion of these talks, which is expected to be inFebruary 2016. The agency will be working closely withinternational authorities to develop a worldwide standardfor regulating airline emissions.“An international policy would secure far moregreenhouse gas emissions reductions than a domesticonlyplan,” said Christopher Grundler, director of theEPA’s Office of Transportation and Air Quality.Environmental groups, however, are less optimistic,saying that regulations are coming at very slow pace.They also fear that the standards proposed by theregulatory bodies will be too weak to effectively curb therising air pollution from the aviation industry.Air traffic volumes are growing consistently eachyear, raising the urgency for carbon reduction and fuelefficiency standards to be implemented. This year,some 3.5 billion passengers and nearly 55 million tonsof cargo will move across a global network spanningapproximately 51,000 routes, according to an officialstatement released by the association last month at theopening of its AGM in Miami.Deborah Lapidus, director of the Flying Clean campaign,an effort by a coalition of environmental groups, saidthat the EPA standard would provide a road map forinternational standards. United States airlines accountfor about a third of all aircraft global emissions. Withoutlimits, aviation emissions are set to double by the end ofthe decade. Incentives are already in place to make airtravel more energy efficient,” she said.If and when a final ruling is passed, it will be legallybinding, meaning that future administrations will have toact on it, unless challenged in court. The airline industrycontends that it has already worked hard to reduce fuelusage and increase efficiency, and that demands foranything more could raise costs. Already, airlines arelooking into new technologies and alternatives likecarbon-neutral biofuels, but these are arguably moreexpensive than conventional fuel.Aviation accounts for about 2 percent of global emissions,but it is also one of the fastest-growing sources of globalgreenhouse gas emissions as air travel becomes moreaffordable. The EU estimates that by 2020, internationalaviation emissions could be 70 percent higher than theywere in 2005, even if fuel efficiency improves by 2percent a year.Given the global nature of the business, airlines haveargued that the new rules should be global. In 2014,domestic carriers burned 8 percent less fuel than they didin 2000, while carrying 20 percent more passengers andcargo. Apart from innovations in fuel technology, buyingnew planes that have more efficient engines appears tobe the most effective path to reducing costs as well asenvironmental impact.By 2050, the industry hopes to cut its greenhouse gasemissions to halve their 2005 levels, according to IATA.www.ziwira.com