Air Pacific, Fiji’s international airline, has been accused of hypocrisy for backing shark conservation for public relations while flying shark fins to HK.
Last year the airline sponsored “Happy Hearts Love Sharks”, a contest run by the Hong Kong Shark Foundation, which was aimed at encouraging newlyweds to set an example by not serving dishes containing shark fin during wedding banquets. The international trade in shark fin, centered in Hong Kong, is blamed for decimating shark populations.
According to reports emanating from Montreal, ahead of a three-day symposium on Aviation and Climate Change being held by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), the civil aviation industry is edging toward embracing a mandatory scheme for offsetting its greenhouse gas emissions. ICAO, a United Nations body, has been tasked with developing a global plan to manage aviation emissions in time for its triennial assembly in September.
It appears that there may be light at the end of the tunnel in the ongoing dispute between China and the EU over aviation emissions by skirting the latter’s provocative Emissions Trading System (ETS).
The Indian government is yet again reassessing the environmental licensing for the country's mines. This time a nine-member group of ministers headed by agriculture minister Sharad Pawar will look at the environment ministry's report on identifying inviolate forest areas where mining should be barred.
Airbus and its parent company, EDAS, signed a memorandum of understanding on Wednesday with Chinese biofuel producer ENN to jointly develop and test aviation fuel made from algae.
The European Union (EU) announced yesterday that it will apply a one-year moratorium on the controversial inclusion of civil aviation under its Emissions Trading System (ETS), which has mandated that all airlines flying to and from EU pay for their carbon emissions.
The freeze follows threats of widespread international retaliation from such heavyweights as the US, China, Russia and India, and is said to allow for the EU rethink its approach.
Flights by airlines within the EU will still have to pay for their carbon emissions.
Sydney is the departure point of the world's first flight using a fuel made from “end of life” plastic. Later this year British pilot Jeremy Rowsell plans to fly back home from Australia in a single engine Cessna, which normally runs on diesel, according to a report by Business Green.
China will invest 2.37 trillion yuan (USD375.6 billion) in major energy-saving projects during the 12th Five-Year Plan period (2011-2015), according to the State Council yesterday.
In a separate, but related announcement, the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) said yesterday that part of its development fund will be channeled into energy-saving programs of domestic airlines and plane manufacturers. Although not stated as such, this move has clear implications for China’s on-going dispute with the European Union over its tax on airline carbon emissions.
Australia's (the Asia Pacific's) first commercial-scale algae biofuel production facility, developed by Algae.Tec, has been officially comissioned. Capacity details of the "Shoalhaven One" plant - which is located in Nowra, New South Wales - have not been released by the company but the biofuel will be sold to the transport sector.
On the back of announcing a significant reduction in the carbon-intensity of their operations the Airport Authority Hong Kong and 40 business partners have pledged to make Hong Kong International Airport (HKIA) the world's greenest.
While a laudable goal this may not be enough to fend off mounting concern among the Hong Kong general public, NGOs and legislators about the environmental conditions in and around the airport, which may ultimately derail plans to add a third runway to HKIA.
A joint declaration was signed in Moscow yesterday by representatives of 23 countries that oppose the European Union's inclusion of civil aviation in its greenhouse gas emissions cap and trade regime, the European Trading Scheme.
The Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) has told the country’s airlines that they may not pay a charge on carbon emissions imposed by the Europe Union (EU), and not to increase passenger fares or freight rates to allow for the EU charge without government permission.
The CAAC said in a statement that it had been authorized to issue the ban by the State Council, China's Cabinet.
The EU scheme, implemented from 1 January, levies a charge on flights that originate or terminate in any of the EU’s 27 member countries. It is estimated that around 4,000 airlines have been told by the EU to pay for their carbon emissions.
Indian airlines and airports have been asked to record their annual carbon emissions in what would be a first step towards creating a national inventory that could be used to reduce the aviation sector's CO2 output, reports the Times of India.
The Directorate
The China Air Transport Association (CATA), the country's main aviation trade said yesterday that its member airlines will refuse to pay any carbon costs under the European Union’s Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS).From January 1, all airlines using EU airports are required to pay a tax on their carbon emissions as part of the EU’s efforts to combat climate change. "China will not co-operate with the European Union on the ETS, so Chinese airlines will not impose surcharges on customers relating to the emissions tax," CATA deputy secretary-general Cai Haibo told The Guardian.
Xinhua reports that China's aviation watchdog on Tuesday urged the European Union (EU) to drop a plan that would require global airlines to buy carbon emission permits, while the Chinese aviation industry reportedly plan to sue EU over the unpopular scheme.
In a first for the country Air China and Boeing, along with energy partners, have conducted China's first sustainable biofuel flight. The one-hour flight from Beijing Capital International Airport highlights the viability of using sustainable aviation biofuel sourced in China.
The trial was part of a Sino-US energy co-operation program and marked a milestone in the two countries' joint efforts regarding biofuel and high technology,
The drama of the debates at last month’s “Greener Skies” Aviation and Environment Conference in Hong Kong was heightened earlier this month when a senior European Union legal officer advised the EU Court of Justice that the inclusion of aviation into the EU Emissions Trading Scheme (EU ETS) was lawful. The Court usually accepts the legal officer’s advice.
Air China has become the first Chinese airline member of the Sustainable Aviation Fuel Users Group (SAFUG), which is committed to support the commercial use of lower carbon renewable fuels, derived from environmentally and socially sustainable sources.
A new report from Pike Research predicts the biofuel industry will double in size to USD185 billion by 2021. Meanwhile in the European Union – the world's largest biofuel market – the European Biodiesel Board (EBB), a producers group, has rejected the findings of a EU-funded study into the indirect land use change (ILUC) effect of biofuel production as unscientific.
This report by the World Bank spells out what the world would be like if it warmed by 4 degrees Celsius, which is what scientists are nearly unanimously predicting by the end of the century, without serious policy changes.
Companies in Asia reveal expectations that regulations that could lead to rising costs for reporting and reducing GHG emissions will also be the main sources of climate-related business opportunities.
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