WELLINGTON, New Zealand — Air New Zealand on Tuesday scrapped its 2030 carbon emissions reduction targets, citing delays in new aircraft production, a lack of alternative fuel and “challenging” regulatory and policy environments.
The move by the national airline, one of New Zealand’s largest companies by revenue, was the highest-profile reversal yet of an airline’s commitments to a UN framework to keep corporations on track to meet the Paris Agreement on emissions reductions, highlighting the obstacles they face. carriers and policymakers to reduce aviation emissions.
“If even Air New Zealand can’t do it, it sort of cements the reality that reducing aviation emissions is an impossible task under the current technical regime,” said James Higham, a sustainable tourism expert at Griffith University in Australia.
Tuesday’s update marked a big change from a 2022 announcement by Air New Zealand in which it declared itself the world’s second airline to have its plans validated by the Science-Based Targets Initiative aviation framework. from the ONU. It promised a 28.9% reduction in carbon emissions by 2030, from a 2019 baseline, with a 16.3% drop in absolute emissions.
The airline, which was led until 2019 by now New Zealand Prime Minister Christopher Luxon, was due to begin submitting progress reports on its 2030 emissions targets during this financial year.
Air New Zealand said it was still committed to the goal of net zero carbon emissions by 2050, in line with the Paris Agreement. The airline would set new “near-term” emissions reduction targets that would “better reflect challenges related to the availability of aircraft and alternative jet fuel,” CEO Greg Foran said in a written statement.
The airline declined an interview request from The Associated Press.
Global manufacturing and supply chain issues could slow the introduction of more fuel-efficient aircraft into Air New Zealand’s fleet, Foran said. The “affordability and availability of alternative jet fuels” and global and national policies are also “outside the direct control of the airline,” he added.
His comments echoed the problems facing the aviation sector around the world. Air travel accounts for around 2.5% of global carbon emissions, but it is one of the activities with the highest carbon emissions per passenger. The production of more efficient aircraft is delayed and improvements in reducing fuel consumption They are agonizingly slow..
“It’s supposed to be a very difficult goal to achieve, but I think it should be there to show everyone what needs to be done,” said Sola Zheng, a senior researcher at the International Council on Clean Transportation who was involved in developing the SBTi.
The target was strict “unless airlines are willing to slow their growth,” Zheng said.
Other airlines listed in the SBTi database as having “removed” their commitment to near-term emissions targets include United Airlines, German airline Lufthansa, Britain’s easyJet, LATAM Airlines Chile and Japan Airlines.
Analysts have long warned that the volume of sustainable fuel being produced is a small fraction of demand.
“There aren’t many incentives for more efficient flights, and greater efficiency generally comes from more efficient aircraft models,” rather than alternative fuels, Zheng said.
In Tuesday’s statement, the airline’s chairwoman, Dame Therese Walsh, said the airline would renew its “advocacy for global and national regulatory and policy frameworks” that would help the aviation sector “do its part to mitigate risks.” of climate change.”
Air New Zealand’s statement was a reminder of the challenges and the need to support and help companies “get it done”, Australian Climate Change and Energy Minister Chris Bowen told reporters after meeting his New Zealand counterpart in Brisbane on Tuesday, unrelated to the airline’s announcement.
“No one ever suggested it was easy,” Bowen said. “What it does is underline the need for governments to be involved.”
Tourism is New Zealand’s second largest export earner, driven by images of the country’s pristine and picturesque sights. Air New Zealand’s marketing efforts have often been aligned with strategies to sell the country’s “clean and green” profile abroad, including in flight safety videos with environmental management issues.
Higham, the tourism professor, said the only way for airlines to substantially reduce aviation emissions was to fly less.
“Air New Zealand has really tried everything, sustainable aviation fuels and carbon offset programmes, and it all sounds good, but nothing is changing,” he said.
This story originally appeared on ABCNews.go.com read the full story
