European governments must do more to address the issue of climate change, according to airline Lufthansa

26 August 2009

European governments are not encouraging companies in the aviation industry to address the issue of climate change according to Peter Schneckenleitner, head of sustainability at airline Lufthansa.

According to Schneckenleitner, the European aviation industry needs to look to the US for inspiration in being more environmentally responsible and highlights a lack of governmental support as the reason the transition to using biofuels as jet fuel has been a slow process.

Schneckenleitner said, ‘We think politicians can give the environmental efforts of the aviation industry an additional boost. For example, we have to speed up the use of biofuel and there is a lack of support in the development of sustainable, alternative fuels for aviation in Europe.

‘In the US politicians and the industry work hand-in-hand. In Europe we need to use this as an example to increase and improve our research. The government needs to do more and force the issue in the aviation industry to help airlines reach the targets set out by IATA. We are doing our best but we can do it better with political support.’

Despite this, Schneckenleitner believes the International Air Transport Association’s (IATA) call for carbon neutral growth by 2020 is a realistic goal. In a bid to contribute to this target Lufthansa has defined an environmental strategy which includes the introduction of over 190 fuel-efficient aircraft over the next few years as well as plans to blend up to ten per cent of biofuel with conventional jet fuel by 2020.

Schneckenleitner added, ‘We believe that carbon neutral growth by 2020 is a realistic goal. When you look at the history of the aviation industry our fuel efficiency improved in recent years by 70 percent in comparison with the 1970s, and compared with the 1990s we have improved by about 30 per cent.’

Copyright © 2009 NewNet

Tags: aviation, climate change, policy

This story was published on Wednesday, August 26th, 2009 at 12:38 pm and is filed under Europe, biomass/biofuel, companies, energy efficiency, policy. You can follow any responses to article entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

2 Responses to “European governments must do more to address the issue of climate change, according to airline Lufthansa”

1. Chavdar Azarov says:

   27 August 2009 at 6:03 pm

   Dear Mr Schneckenleitner,

   EER and EE-labels has been sent to Lufthansa and it is not about Lufthansa to develop biofuels, it is about Airbus.

   chavdarazarov@yahoo.com
2. martin hogan says:

   28 August 2009 at 4:10 am

   Perhaps the airline industry could use some of its lobbyists to help co-ordinate things?

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