Madam, - I agree with Michael O'Leary of Ryanair (July 12th) about the need for "sensible, fact-based debate" on the issue of flying and climate change.
However, I wish he would take his own advice rather than using a variety of pejorative terms to label those whose views differ from his own. - Yours, etc,
SHEILA ROBINSON,
Eagle Valley,
Sarsfield Road,
Cork.
Madam, - John Gibbons's article "Climate to pay price for low-cost flying" (Opinion, July 10th) will just confuse the public by perpetrating yet more questionable statistics on aviation's impact on climate. Several research centres have produced widely varying so-called facts and figures. It is more sensible to rely on the figures of the world's most authoritative organisation on this subject, the Nobel Prize-winning United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).
The IPCC confirmed in May 2007 that the aviation industry contributes 3 per cent to worldwide greenhouse gas emissions. Even if aviation's emissions reached the IPCC's projected figure of 5 per cent by 2050, this would still represent far less than the current emissions from road transport, shipping, deforestation or energy production.
According to the IPCC, CO2 emissions from aviation will grow at 0.7 per cent a year, compared with 2 per cent for power generation, 1.7 per cent for transport on average, 1.6 per cent for industry, and 1 per cent for the residential/commercial sector.
And aircraft are not "mile for mile by far the worst environmental offenders". The current fleet average fuel efficiency is around 4 litres per 100 passenger kilometres. The aircraft now coming into the fleet are averaging 3.5 litres and the new generation of planes, such as the Boeing 787 and the Airbus 380, are targeting under 3 litres. That is better mile for mile than most cars on the road in Ireland today.
Mr Gibbons says the EU emissions trading scheme is a critical part of the EU's efforts to rein in increases in CO2 emissions. But the EU has for 20 years failed to take the one step that would, at a stroke, cut 16 million tonnes (the EU's own figure) from aviation CO2 emissions each year - revamping the inefficient air traffic management system into a "Single European Sky". It is strange that Mr Gibbons does not mention this but focuses instead on an emissions trading scheme that will have at best a marginal impact on emissions and will lead to legal battles from countries outside the EU.
However, the industry is not using its relatively small contribution to climate change as an excuse for inaction. Contrary to Mr Gibbons's absurd claim that aviation is "a model of environmental unsustainability", the whole industry is investing heavily in energy-saving measures.
Planes are now 70 per cent more fuel-efficient than they were 40 years ago and another 25 per cent fuel efficiency gain is projected for 2020. Moreover, by shortening routes and reducing weight, airlines actually saved 12 million tonnes of CO2 last year. - Yours, etc,
PAUL STEELE,
Executive Director,
Air Transport Action Group,
Geneva,
Switzerland.