A Sustainable Aviation Industry

This week, the New Zealand Government and Air New Zealand have excitingly announced that they will be pledging 2 million dollars towards developing a sustainable form of aviation fuel in order to improve the current emissions caused by the aviation sector of New Zealand. According to a recent article by Radio New Zealand, current efforts that have been made to reduce carbon emissions from aviation have not been successful as New Zealand has been named the country with the sixth-highest rate of aviation-derived greenhouse gas emissions in the world. An estimated 12% of total carbon emissions emitted in New Zealand are caused by the aviation industry, therefore the New Zealand Government has taken note of this growing issue and has decided to address it by investing towards the creation of more sustainable fuels.

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As Air New Zealand has partnered with the New Zealand Government, current suggestions regarding sustainable fuel include natural resources such as forestry slash, rubbish, and cooking oil. However, there are still multiple issues to address, such as the logistics of producing such a fuel, and the economic externalities, as the Government does not intend to create more emissions from producing such a fuel. This is because the New Zealand Government would like the fuel to be produced and developed in a sustainable manner which does not disrupt the ecosystem or cause further damage to the environment. Furthermore, the airline announced in December of 2022 that they would be partnering with Eviation, Beta, VoltAero and Cranfield Aerospace to produce ‘Next Generation Aircraft’ which aims to produce the world’s first zero emission planes. Overall, this is exciting news for a country of 5.2 Million people, and combined with the latest development of a sustainable fuel, it highlights a positive move towards moving away from fossil fuels. 

This ties in well with current projects from the Council of Sustainability as I have been working on consulting feedback across the school regarding the use of travelling with Air New Zealand and offsetting carbon credits with them. Therefore, the aviation industry presents large amounts of opportunities which may revolutionise the way we know aviation today. However, as it is an industry which largely relies on fossil fuels, it is of utmost importance that we try to minimise the impact on the environment. Globally the aviation industry accounts for around 2-3% of total carbon emissions. Therefore exciting developments such as a sustainable fuel for the aviation industry would be a great way to help minimise its current effect on the environment and would allow Kristin School as a whole to minimise its carbon emissions on flights flown with Air New Zealand. A sustainable fuel and offsetting carbon emissions would present a positive impact on the environment as it would offset any carbon emissions caused by flights, and a sustainable fuel would help prevent large amounts of CO2 from being emitted. 

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To conclude, as we all wait towards the exciting news regarding this development of a sustainable fuel, we can look forward towards the development of more sustainable alternatives to help to protect the planet we call home. 

‍The image above was sourced from Air New Zealand: https://www.airnewzealand.co.nz/press-release-2022-air-new-zealand-announces-mission-next-gen-aircraft-partners