Aviation Industry Political Drivers in the Aviation

Aviation Industry

Political Drivers in the Aviation Industry: Implications and Opportunities for Sustainability

Ladies and Gentleman, distinguished guests, and concerned citizens, thank you for joining us today as we reflect on the political and ecological challenges facing the British Aviation industry. Although I use the term challenges to describe the issues facing the aviation industry, I want to encourage all of you to see each challenge as a hidden opportunity. View each challenge as an opportunity for our industry to evolve as it grows more competitive, and begins to function sustainably.

Industries, such as ours, conduct business at the cross-roads of stock-holders, government regulatory agencies, all the while continuously finding ourselves subject to the geo-politics of the Middle-East and its affect on the price of crude oil. If there ever was a reason to find real world alternatives to oil- surely the fact that a sudden rise in the price of crude oil could bring airlines to a grinding halt and then soon to bankruptcy is a good one. In many other industries, such as those in telecommunications and defence, we have seen collaborations and expansions by companies into new industries and the acquisition of smaller companies. The aviation industry, on the other hand, remains committed to simply focusing on providing one product, and seem to have no interest in even securing the supply chain that allows it to provide its product. In other words, if flying is the service we provide, than we should also be investing in the development of alternate sources of fuel. After all, fuel, not only directly impacts our bottom line, fuel also makes the entire enterprise possible.

To this endeavour we propose the creation of a research consortium sponsored by the dues of the British Aviation Association. This research consortium will be tasked with the job of investigating opportunities for investment, research & development, cross-training, and building relationships and partnerships among aviation companies in Europe and elsewhere. The relationships will be built so that companies that would usually be competitors may find a common ground for collaboration. Twice a year such a research consortium would produce reports and updates to all the members so that we remain informed not only of what is happening in the field of aviation, but become committed to being an active partner in the global movement to embrace, discover, and further the uses of green energy. These are the types of opportunities we must seize-dependence on oil must become dependence on one another.

Political Drivers Evidence Requirement

The most significant piece of environmental legislation is not yet legislation; at this stage it is merely the precursor to what will be among the most significant pieces of legislation to be ratified by the states of the world. During the first two weeks of December, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), the organization tasked with writing a universally binding convention on climate change, held a conference in Durban, South Africa. The conference was a continuation of the implementation of the Kyoto Protocols. Where previous climate protocols have failed because states refused to get involved or the language is non-binding, in the Durban Agreements countries agreed to create a binding agreement addressing, among other things, reductions in the green house gas emissions-which apply to everyone. (UNFCCC 2011) Unlike the Kyoto protocol, whose emission reductions applied only to the developed countries, the Durban convention will apply to both developed and developing countries. Id.

This legislation when it comes into force in 2020 will be universal enough to cover every industry in every country on the planet. This means that in very real terms the British aviation industry needs to look at planes and fuel sources which will not exceed the greenhouse gas limits which will be allocated to the United Kingdom. In other words, in just 7 years the UK can possibly be fined for the excessive greenhouse emissions of its companies. This emerging legislation will require us to adapt in advance.

Ecological Drivers in the Aviation Industry: Implications and Opportunities for Sustainability

Regardless of the many pressures to which our industry is subject, what has become clear is the reality that our behaviour on planet Earth has had a significant and lasting impact. This brings us to our second significant driver which should encourage improvement in the aviation industry's sustainability efforts- ecological limitation and pollution damage. The aviation industry as it currently stands is wholly dependent on a fast depleting non-renewable resource. The entire aviation industry must evolve or become obsolete. If we do not find a large quantity of renewable of energy- which can be harnessed to fly aeroplanes-than there will be little need for this trade association. Even more immediately than that moment when the world's oil is so scarce that it becomes financially beyond the means of even multinational conglomerates, of greater concern, is the pollution which is emitted from the aeroplanes used by the aviation industry, and the impact of releasing CFCs directly near the ozone layer.

Among other factors, the ecological driver in the aviation industry presents itself in the form of pollution; in our industry's carbon footprint; and our lack of contribution to cleaning up the effects. To combat and embrace these shortcomings in an effort to alleviate our contributions to the damage of our ecosystems, we propose a voluntary pollution tax to be levied globally against transnational companies who emit CFS's without respect for any boundary. We can use the media to promote companies who are attempting to help the UK comply with its own obligations to cut emissions by 60% by the year 2050. (Strahan 2008)

It can even embrace the 'fair trade' movement's strategies. A participating company's services can be certified to be 'fair flight' etc., in order to distinguish those who are actively involved in combatting the negative externalities of conducting business and those are not. There is a wealth of support at both the local, national, and supra-national levels for the kinds of initiatives which acknowledge the truly global impact of the private decision to fly from Heathrow the JFK. We want to encourage our members to embrace Schopenhauer's philosophy about change: "change alone is eternal, perpetual, and immortal."

Ecological Drivers Evidence Requirement