One of App in the Air’s product principles is responsibility. In terms of sustainability, we are currently working on several new features in that area, and would love to hear your opinion on why this is important to you, what your experience in the app has been, and how we can improve our app to make it more informative about the ecological impact of air travel. We’ve created a short survey that won’t take longer than 10 minutes to complete, and all the questions are optional. Thank you in advance!
And of course, as usual, we are bringing you the latest news about the aviation industry’s path to become more sustainable.
Policy
China has introduced energy intensity and carbon emissions-related targets for the aviation segment in the 14th Five-Year Plan, paving the way for the inclusion of a key transportation sector in the country’s carbon market. By 2025, China’s aviation sector aims to reduce carbon emissions per ton-km by 4.5%, and energy consumption per person-time in the airport by 10% from 2020 levels, the plan outlined. It aims to increase total turnover by 17% annually, and total passengers by 17.2% annually.
Airports
Belfast International Airport, member of the VINCI Airports network since 2018, has entered the Airport Carbon Accreditation program by reaching the level 2 Reduction for its initiatives to reduce its carbon footprint. Since joining VINCI Airports network, Belfast airport has achieved a decrease of 20 % in direct carbon emissions, with key actions including LED relamping of the airport terminal and improvement of the management of energy consumption.
Bristol Airport has been independently accredited as having carbon neutral operations for its direct Scope 1 and 2 emissions, making it just a handful of airports to receive this prestigious certification. The award recognises that Bristol Airport has continued to fulfill the requirements of the scheme with reducing direct greenhouse gas emissions from its operations and offset the remainder using internationally recognised offsets.
Airlines
Nashville-based nonprofit Turnip Green Creative Reuse joins Southwest Airlines’ global sustainability initiative Repurpose with Purpose. As part of the partnership, in 2021 Southwest provided a grant to support The Turnip S.E.A.T project, a TGCR project that focuses on sustainability, education, arts, and transformation. TGCR has repurposed more than 120,000 pounds of Southwest Airlines leather seat covers providing creative, empowering, and environmental opportunities for the middle Tennessee community.
Starting January 10th, KLM is adding 0.5% Sustainable Aviation Fuel for flights departing from Amsterdam. In addition, KLM will offer its customers the option of purchasing an extra amount of sustainable fuel. The costs for the sustainable fuel variant are at least four times higher and production is lagging behind. By increasing demand, KLM hopes to further develop the market for SAF so that supply is scaled up and sustainable fuel ultimately becomes cheaper.
Technology
The company Johnson Matthey launched their HyCOgen technology that enables the conversion of carbon dioxide (CO2) and green hydrogen into sustainable aviation fuel (SAF). Over 95% of the CO2 is converted into synthetic crude oil through the Reverse Water Gas Shift (HyCOgen) technology. The FT CANS Fischer Tropsch technology, developed in coordination with bp, is combined with Johnson Matthey’s HyCOgen — a catalyzed process that forms synthesis gas, or syngas — to produce renewable fuel. The crude oil that is produced can be transformed into drop-in fuel products such as SAF, renewable diesel, and naphtha.
Research
Stimulating a brain region called the temporo-parietal junction (TPJ) makes people more likely to make sustainable decisions in a laboratory experiment mimicking a situation where overuse of a resource harms people in the future, according to a new study.
The findings provide hints about how to motivate people to make sacrifices now for the sake of the future climate. “Our study is among the first neuroscientific investigations into sustainability and we were interested to study the basic mechanisms at the core of sustainable behaviour,” says study team member Daria Knoch, professor of social neuroscience at the University of Bern in Switzerland.
Partners
One Tree Planted started a new project in the United Kingdom. This project is unique in nature given that it will continue to benefit different countries in the United Kingdom. The first focus is restoring forests across England. England used to have glorious forest coverage, but changes in land use have caused extensive deforestation. This project is a community-led initiative to create educational opportunities and volunteer planting events so that everyone can enjoy England’s native flora and fauna.
