Report Faults FAA for Ignoring Climate Change

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is risking environmental damage and harm to the aviation sector by failing to consider global warming in its long-range planning for the industry, according to a report released today by Climate Science Watch.

A program of the Government Accountability Project, Climate Science Watch issued the report after studying the government's multi-agency effort to plan for the next 20 years of air travel. The effort, known as Next Generation Air Transportation System or NextGen, is preparing a long-term strategy to deal with an expected tripling of plane flights over the next two decades. However, neither of NextGen's past two progress reports has included any mention of climate change or airline-related greenhouse gas emissions.

"Continuing to ignore these issues could jeopardize the future of American aviation while allowing air travel to have an increasingly harmful effect on the environment," said Rick Piltz, director of Climate Science Watch and a co-author of the report along with research associate Thea Sebastian. "Future global warming emissions reduction policy could place limits on aviation. Federal NextGen planning should be focusing now on systematically reducing greenhouse gas emissions in order to position U.S aviation to meet such requirements."

If airline travel increases as much as NextGen predicts, aviation's contribution to greenhouse gas emissions would grow considerably, the report points out. Currently, air travel generates about 2 to 3 percent of all the greenhouse gases emitted in the U.S.

The Climate Science Watch report notes that the European Union has already started addressing the impact of aviation on climate change. The European Commission, for example, is mulling a plan that would set carbon dioxide emissions standards based on how much aircraft weigh and how far they travel. And European aircraft manufacturers like Airbus are working to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and improve energy efficiency.