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Flying is as sustainable as it will ever be in your lifetime

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The challenges of operating a jet aircraft with alternative fuel mean there’s only one way to cut emissions from flying: Don’t get on a plane.

The challenges of operating a jet aircraft with alternative fuel mean there’s only one way to cut emissions from flying: Don’t get on a plane.

  1. The way some people are talking feels like the world is on the brink of a new, cleaner era of aviation. But the truth is that mitigating emissions from aircraft is one of the most challenging areas the world will face over the coming decades

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  2. In power generation, road transport, steel, chemicals and shipping, there are genuine breakthrough technologies that could sharply reduce or eliminate emissions. Aviation’s best alternative technologies are far more incremental

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  3. Let's look at Sustainable Aviation Fuel. Blending a mix of up to 50% biofuel into an aircraft’s tanks doesn’t even normally require any change in the basic technology, but it's four or five times more expensive

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  4. It also probably wouldn't cut that much carbon: Once you account for processing and the effects of turning virgin land into farms, biofuel produced from Southeast Asian palm oil and U.S. corn often has a larger footprint than the fossil-based equivalent

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  5. Another potential technology is hydrogen. It easily outperforms kerosene in terms of mass density, but it takes up a lot of space. Aircrafts would need to be redesigned, meaning less space for passengers, cargo and a rethink of the economics of the plane

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  6. Hydrogen’s weight savings could make it attractive enough to go back to the drawing board on aircraft design. But it can take three decades to develop a new conventional jet engine. We’re not likely to see that sort of change until years into the future

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  7. For all that the airline industry wants to hold out the promise of a pathway to net zero, it has no real idea of how it’s going to get there. Mitigation options at the moment offer no more than marginal benefits

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  8. The current desperate state of aviation is almost certainly the best it will be in climate terms for a generation. The way to make your air travel habit more sustainable once lockdown ends is brutally simple: Fly less, and hope others do the same

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