By Vijay Jayaraj
Indian low-cost carrier IndiGo recently made headlines with its record Airbus order for passenger planes. The deal, worth an estimated $50 billion, is the largest order in Airbus history.
While the order for 500 A320neo planes is a huge success for Airbus, it has been called a “step backwards” towards climate action. What is remarkable is that Indian Airlinesanother major airline, recently placed orders totaling $70 billion in retail value for 470 aircraft from Airbus and Boeing, including 70 dual-aisle models.
Orders from IndiGo and Air India for 970 new planes are a sign of India’s growing economic strength and growing middle class. Air travel is tied to economic growth and these orders will help meet the subcontinent’s growing demand.
However, the orders are yet another example of emerging economic powers like India and China openly opposing the global climate frenzy and calls to reduce fossil fuel emissions. .
Aviation and emissions industry
The International Air Transport Association (IATA) has set multiple targets to reduce carbon emissions by 2050. According to IATA“At the 77th Annual General Meeting of IATA in Boston, USA, on 4 October 2021, IATA member airlines adopted a resolution committing them to achieve net zero carbon emissions. from its activities by 2050.”
Achieving this goal will require significant reductions in emissions. It is unclear whether IndiGo’s new aircraft agreement will help meet IATA’s emissions targets. The A320neo is more fuel efficient than previous models, but it still produces significant emissions.
According to Airbus, the A320neo emits 20% less CO2 than its predecessor, the A320ceo. However, this still means that each A320neo will emit around 100 tons of CO2 per year. That’s about 50,000 tons of new emissions per year in addition to emissions from IndiGo’s existing large fleet. That’s significantly more than zero – net or otherwise.
The Paris and Net Zero deal is meaningless
Many national leaders have set ambitious targets to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, which they believe will reverse moderate climate warming that they consider unreasonably dangerous. For example, the Paris Agreement calls for global emissions to peak by 2030 and reach an unspecified net zero by 2050. The agreement offers no reasonable way to achieve the target nor a rationale. scientifically justified to do so.
The signatories to the Paris Agreement include India and France, the home countries of the aircraft buyers, and those of Airbus, respectively.
India is already the world’s third largest emitter of greenhouse gases and its aviation industry is one of the fastest growing in the world. With a growing population at 1.4 billion, the government is under pressure to provide affordable air travel to its citizens. Therefore, there is no possibility of travel restrictions even if such measures are necessary to reduce emissions.
France has taken a different approach to climate change, forbidden short domestic flights to cut emissions. The new bill bans flights with trains of 2.5 hours or less. The law has met with mixed reactions as environmentalists complain it doesn’t go far enough.
Now, France has allowed Airbus to take all-time record orders from IndiGo and Airbus. It is quite difficult to understand why France banned its citizens from flying but approved the production of aircraft for short flights in India.
The absurdity of France – a signatory of the Paris Agreement – allowing huge aircraft orders from high-emissions countries illustrates the ongoing disparity among net zero advocates vs. reality. Developing countries will continue to challenge international climate goals as they become more intentional in addressing economic concerns.
This commentary was first published at Reviews on BizPacJune 23, 2023, and can be accessed This.
Vijay Jayaraj is a research associate at CO2 Alliance, Arlington, Virginia. He holds a master’s degree in environmental science from the University of East Anglia, UK and resides in India
Image credits:
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:VT-ILY_-_IndiGo_-_Airbus_A321-251NX_-_MSN_10490_-_VGHS.jpg
Md Shaifuzzaman Ayon, CC BY-SA 4.0
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