Flying to cost more Delta boss warns.
Only days after the conclusion of the 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference in Glasgow, Delta Air Lines chief executive Ed Bastian has warned that tackling climate change will make flying more expensive.
Speaking to the BBC, he said: “Over time, it’s going to cost us all more, but it’s the right approach that we must take.”
Bastian’s comments come as 23 countries have vowed to work collectively to get the aviation industry to net-zero carbon emissions by 2050.
According to the International Energy Agency, aviation is responsible for about 2.5% of the carbon emissions that are warming the planet.
The Atlanta-based carrier says it has been carbon neutral since March 2020, after spending $30 million a year on carbon-offsetting.
The airline has also pledged to spend $1 billion over the next decade to cancel out all the emissions it creates.
More fuel-efficient aircraft, sustainable aviation fuels and removing carbon from the atmosphere are some of the ways Delta hopes to achieve this.
However, some environmentalists have dismissed the plans, calling the agreement a ‘brazen greenwashing’.
Klara Maria Schenk of Greenpeace, an environmental advocacy group, was quoted by the BBC as saying: “This announcement is full of scams like offsetting, and excessive optimism on so-called ‘sustainable aviation fuels’ and future aircraft designs.
“But it lacks the one thing that’s needed to achieve the goal of limiting temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius which is concrete action to prioritise green travel and reduce flights.”
Andreas Schafer, professor of energy and transport at University College London, says it will “cost trillions rather than billions of dollars” to transition the world’s aviation sector to net zero carbon emissions.
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