Air transportation and climate change

Résumé du document

A sophisticated transport system has evolved in Europe to move people and frets. The air transport industry is growing at rate above the average growth of the economy of the EU: multiplication of short distance flies, the arrival of the "low cost" market, and increasing of aerial fret transportation. Between 1980 and 1995 the air transport demand has grown by 5% and will go on increasing up to 2015. It facilitates economic and cultural exchanges and is a significant source of employment and growth in many regions. But this growth is followed by the growth of air pollution and climate change. The international awareness of the pollution created by aircraft's has started in 1970. The air transport contributes to the greenhouse effect and also to different kind of pollutions such as noise and several kinds of gases emissions. So what is the real link between air transportation and climate change?

Extraits

[...] We can also notice as an example that the Aircraft constructor Boeing has a policy of reduction of pollution: as a matter of fact, on the contrary of Airbus Industry that focused on transporting more and more people but on shorten distances, Boeing's policy is to create aircrafts that could go on higher and higher distances. So the ratio Kerosene/KM is decreasing and the pollution of their planes by the way The options for the next few years and assessment of current policies The polluter-pays principle can be applied to the sector of air transportation: users of air transport need to be faced with prices that are closer to the true cost implied by their choice to fly or to ship goods by air. But the costs of climate change are not easy to evaluate. [...]

[...] If the growth continues as up to now, emissions from international flights from EU airports will by 2012 have increased by 150% since 1990. It still remains lots of work to do, and also because the impact is not only air transportation on climate change but also the contrary: air transportation provokes climate change which provokes wind and storms which pose a hazard to aircraft during the take off and landing. That's why reducing emissions is a real challenge for the next years. [...]

[...] Air transportation and climate change Plan Introduction 1. The impact of air transportation on climate change 2. The solutions currently implemented 3. The options for the next few years and assessment of current policies Conclusion Introduction A sophisticated transport system has evolved in Europe to move people and frets. The air transport industry is growing at rate above the average growth of the economy of the EU: multiplication of short distance flies, the arrival of the cost” market, and increasing of aerial fret transportation. [...]

[...] The direct or indirect contribution of air transportation on climate change is particularly increasing. While the EU's total greenhouse gas emission fell by from 1990 to 2002, emissions from international aviation increased by almost 70%. Commercial aircraft operate at cruise altitudes of 8 to 13 km where they release gases and particulates which alter the atmosphere composition. A gas emitted in a high altitude has an effect two or tree times more important than a gas emitted at the ground zero level. [...]

[...] So what is the real link between air transportation and climate change? 1. The impact of air transportation on climate change There are three levels of pollution that are linked to the air transport industry: - A global effect: the greenhouse effect - General atmosphere pollution: reject of CO2, acidification of the air, acid rains, and so on. - A local pollution: people living close to airports are suffering from several kinds of pollution: air, noise, soils, fields, water etc. [...]