The Green Report

The newest innovations in sustainability, in the air and on the ground

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Aviation Is Reducing Its Environmental Impact

By John Walton

AIRLINES WORLDWIDE ARE committing to reducing their environmental impact, with many setting targets of net-zero carbon emissions by 2050. This requires new technologies, changing how aviation does business—and dramatically reducing their use of conventional jet fuel.

By an enormous margin, the environmental impact of aviation comes from direct jet-fuel burn. Everything else is almost a rounding error.

As one example: United Airlines’ 2021 direct emissions were some 21.37 million metric tons, of which 21.25 million were the gross emissions from mainline aircraft. Of the remaining approximately 117,000 tons, roughly two-thirds came from facilities including maintenance, engine testing and so on, while a third came from mainline ground vehicles.

Other initiatives, such as removing single-use plastics onboard or reducing food waste, will make a small and sometimes locally significant difference. But if any changes add weight to the cabin, that’s unlikely to be an environmental win.

One critical task is to reduce this fuel burn. Part of that is lighter planes, using more carbon fiber and advanced metals.