How easy would it be for airlines to stop tankering . We are flying more than ever before. Well, we think very easily. During our trip we took its clearly crazy that we burn around 20 flights. Unnecessary amounts of c02 it was like 15 tonnes which, on a per flight basis, of carbon that we created. Result in very small cost savings. But these seem to be some our passion for plane travel really easy wins is warming the planet. That could be quickly fixed. Climate change is a really pressing issue, and were absolutely clear that we have to reach net zero but when the savings are totted up, its lucrative. Its estimated it saved emissions by 2050. Airlines in europe almost £230 million last year. Tonight, we investigate how the industry is trying to clean up its act. Ba said its common industry practice nappies, plastic, cardboard. For operational, safety well take that and well turn it into Sustainable Aviation fuel. And price reasons. For them, it applies mainly and ask, how much can we trust to short haul destinations their environmental promises . With considerable fuel price differences you have to understand between european airports. Their motivation. They exist to make money. We brits are some of the worlds most frequent flyers. One in 12 passengers on all International Flights last year held a uk passport more than any other nationality. European flights are covered by ive just come back from las vegas. The eus emissions trading scheme. Group Ceo Willie Walsh has now said the practice may be wrong and the policy will be reviewed. From las vegas 7 easyjet says it takes place on a tiny proportion of flights for operational and commercial reasons, how many times did and its reduced the level you fly this year . In recent years. Back in the isle of man, probably about six. Six times . Thats quite a lot. Callum and ellie have decided yeah. How theyre going to get i never flew when i was little, to their next holiday destination. So im making up for it now. We thought, 0k, where can we get by land . Probably four times a year. So that was the easiest thing, wasnt it . We thought, ok, lets get and what kind of to singapore by train. Distances do you fly . So thats what were the further the better. Going to do next. I think the train travel is quite exciting, because its not something weve done before, really. But most of us who fly things are going great. Just want to carry on. Meanwhile, the industry wants its all a far cry from the days to carry on growing. Of the first passenger flights, we dont believe people when the rich and famous jetted off want to fly less. Flyings really not the enemy to exotic destinations. In this whole debate back then, flying was c02 is the enemy. But the Aviation Industry glamorous, but expensive. Isnt doing enough to deal with the emissions it generates. Here weve got a giant sector, fly with us to chicago aviation, on continental airlines. That simply isnt facing well do a little more for you a lot up to its obligations, is it . Faster to make this the nicest i think it doesnt know how to make flight youve ever flown. The reductions at the pace required. Today, weve embraced the era of cheap seats. No, its worse than that. It wants to go on growing. 30 years of low fares. It wants to go on growing, with over 200 destinations and it doesnt want to have measures to choose from. That would impede its ability to keep on growing. Worldwide passenger numbers have quadrupled in 30 years. If we wont fly less and the by 2037, theyre expected to double again to eight billion a year. Industrys efforts arent enough, heathrow is europes the only option may be Busiest Airport. Every day, around 200,000 people for governments to get tougher. Take off or land from here, on ultimately, if were going to 1,300 planes. Solve Climate Change, its going to come from the ambitious countries getting together and taking action on things like taxing aviation, on new fuels and slowing growth and blocking airport expansion. What that means is, if nothing else works, it is likely to get a lot more expensive to fly. Heathrow is pretty close to capacity. Were about 98 , 99 full, and its been that way for some time. We think aviation is fundamentally a force for good in the world. It creates economic wealth for the uk and more broadly. But it also allows people to explore different parts of the world, visit friends and family overseas. But all these journeys are polluting. They emit Greenhouse Gases like Carbon Dioxide. Gases responsible for global warming. And by 2050, as other industries reduce their emissions, aviation is expected to become the uks biggest emitter. If you added up the emissions of all the flights in the world, aviation would be a top ten emitter. This is bbc news welcome if youre aviations emissions watching here in the uk, are projected to double, triple, potentially even to quadruple on pbs in america in the coming decades or around the globe. As more and more big im mike embley. Aircraft take to the skies. Our top stories last year, parliament approved a third runway for heathrow. That could take its passenger numbers to 130 million a year. That would make you, at the moment, the Busiest Airport ever. In hong kong, as the violence is that really something that intensifies, police say the rule you should seek to achieve . Of law is on the brink of total collapse. well, firstly, thats a huge australia has escaped the worst feared impacts of the bushfires but the threat advantage for the uk. Still remains high as more but we recognise we cant than 70 uncontained fires continue do that at any cost. To burn in queensland weve got to meet noise targets, and new south wales. Weve got to meet air quality countdown to the next crucial phase of the impeachment inquiry. Targets, and weve got washington braces for public to meet carbon targets. Hearings into the president s Climate Change is a really pressing dealings with ukraine. Issue, and were absolutely clear that we have to reach net zero emissions by 2050, like every other part of the economy thats what the science the bolivian opposition senator, jeanine anez, is telling us. Declares herself interim president as the former leader, evo morales, begins life in exile. Our love of flying is a challenge to the uks pledge to make dramatic cuts to emissions. Now the Aviation Industry is making big promises, saying it will sort the problem out. So how do those promises stack up . To find out, the team and i are going to have to take a few flights ourselves. Ive got to hurry im one of the last passengers. As always. First up, were off to the border between italy and slovenia. Venice. On this return trip, three of us generated a total of 700 kilos of c02. The same as the average households monthly emissions. Thats as a result of burning kerosene. You know that smell at the airport when you get close to the planes . That is kerosene aviation fuel. Its a little bit oilier than petrol, but also contains loads of energy. Now that is crucial for flying big planes like these take loads of energy to get them off the ground and the fuel has to be portable, because you have to carry it with you. But theres not a drop of kerosene in this plane. Its flights produce zero emissions. Oh, that is amazing. So is this the future . Im in the worlds first commercially available aircraft powered entirely by electricity. Were up wow. Thats lovely. It uses rechargeable batteries that allow it to fly for an hour. This is really exhilarating to fly. But its use is limited. The issue with electric planes is the battery. The problem is you just cant pack that much power into a battery. Nothing like whoa ho what you can with kerosene. Much more energy dense. So the problem is the range is less, and so is the capacity. Just the two of us. Oh my god. Whoa. Ah the plane has been bought mostly by flight schools to train pilots. Its designed to do one thing very well, its to cover the Flight Training segment. But its not a universal solution. It would be feasible to do a Battery Powered aeroplane with much longer range, however it will not be cost effective. Thats actually very smooth, isnt it . Will passenger flights ever be as clean or green as these machines . The chief executive of ryanair is sceptical about when Battery Powered passenger planes will be available. If the Aviation Industry had any alternative to jet kerosene we would use it in a flash. Fuel last year accounted for nearly 30 percent of my cost base. But we dont have the alternative electric batteries to get an aircraft off the ground, it doesnt have the propulsion. If electric planes wont cut it any time soon, how about alternative fuels made from this your Household Waste . Thats what British Airways and shell want to do. Theyre investing millions into a company that wants to turn rubbish into jet fuel from 202a. They call it sustainable fuel. Anything you throw in your black bag, so nappies, plastic, cardboard, food anything that cant be recycled. Well take that and well turn it into Sustainable Aviation fuel. He says this fuel will avoid the polluting process needed to produce kerosene. And lots of the waste would emit Greenhouse Gases in landfill. So why not use it to power aircraft instead . You can genuinely have the right effect by taking the carbon from a sustainable source. So over the lifecycle youve actually got a genuine Carbon Dioxide reduction. Sounds good. But it still contributes to Climate Change. Not least because emissions of c02 from the engine will stay the same. Just to be absolutely clear, when its burned in a plane, its going to release the same amount of Greenhouse Gas emissions as current kerosene . Yes, it is. It behaves exactly like current kerosene. So the greenhouse emissions out of the plane are the same, but over the life cycle theyre much lower. Initially its going to be expensive, and therell be nowhere near enough of it for bas planes. So itll be blended with ordinary kerosene which will still make up more than half the final fuel. Its just a start. What well then do is do it again and again and again until we can make a really big contribution to the uks fuel demand. The uks leading expert on aviation emissions says new fuels could be the answer, but the industry is not moving fast enough. So how far off are we from having a ready supply of Sustainable Fuels . I think were still decades away. Decades away . Yes. The Aviation Industry needs to take it a lot more seriously and they need to be demanding that governments take policy measures that forces the whole system to produce zero carbon fuel, because thats the only way out. And the longer we wait for low carbon fuels the more Greenhouse Gases we will emit, warming the planet. So is there anything we can do now . This is whats wrong. This we need to change some people are taking to the streets, saying we should stop flying altogether. The government has to act. Act now, before its too late a new phrase has entered the language flight shaming. The duke of sussex and his wife have faced criticism after newspapers claimed they flew privately four times in eleven days over the summer. Some celebrities have had to defend their behaviour. I dont fly as much as i did because of my Carbon Footprint. And i plant a lot of trees. Do you fly economy to reduce your Carbon Footprint . I bloody dont, no. Far too old for that. Its making some of us look a bit closer at the impact of our flying. Including Callum Taggart and ellie moore, who live on the isle of man. Its so easy these days to book a flight and theyre so cheap. Its just how quickly can i get from a to b . 12 months ago, after years of saving, they took the holiday of a lifetime to south america. During our trip we took around 20 flights. Some pretty serious distances you have to travel to get anywhere, so at the time, given our budget and time, the only way we could do it really was to fly. Before our trip i dont think we really thought about the environment at all. We were so excited about going to south america, its been our dream since we met almost seven years ago. But, while on their trip, they saw a glacier that had receded because of a changing climate. So when they got home, they calculated their co2 emissions. 15, 16, 17 to mendoza, 18 to santiago, and then home. We put in all our flights, and we also put in all the bus journeys we did take. And the difference in the Carbon Emissions was really quite significant. I was actually astounded. It was like 15 tonnes of carbon that we created 79. Thats nearly double the annual emissions of the average uk household for all activities, flying included. While being there made us realise that it probably wasnt the best thing to do for the environment. And we now sound a little hypocritical. They spent over £200 offsetting the impact of their flights. 0ffsettings when you pay to compensate for your emissions with projects that remove Greenhouse Gases from the atmosphere or reduce emissions elsewhere. It makes you feel slightly better about what youve done and the flights that youve taken. Nothing is as good as not taking the flight in the first place. But paying a small amount towards your flights seems like a no brainer. We want to see how effective one of these Carbon Offsetting schemes is. And yes, it means taking another flight. This is alljust so routine now. Ryanair is one of europes largest airlines, emitting millions of tonnes of Greenhouse Gases a year. Its boss says the airline is europes cleanest and greenest. It packs lots of passengers onto its fleet of new, more fuel efficient planes. People flying with ryanair have reduced their emissions by 50 compared to flying with most of europes other major airlines. In their behalf this year, well pay environmental taxes of over 630 million euros. Rya nairs recently launched a voluntary Carbon Offset scheme. You can pay a pound or a euro at booking towards offsetting your Carbon Footprint and other environmental initiatives. That pound supports four charity projects. One is a whale tracking scheme in ireland. It may be worthwhile, but it doesnt claim to offset Greenhouse Gases. Two involve planting trees, which do remove c02 from the atmosphere. Theres a 250 hectare site in portugal. And a smaller location here in roscommon in ireland. So padraig and i are here to see one of the last examples of ancient irish woodland. Lets go. Farmer Padraig Corcoran is taking me close to where the trees will be planted. Ryanair has helped an Irish Charity buy seven hectares of land. Its about the size of ten football pitches. The lands just out here on the other side, lovely piece of good quality land. Itll grow fantastic trees. The charity will plant thousands of seeds from the existing forest. Its a Great Community project. Its an old, ancient woodland, one of the rarest thats left in europe now of an old woodland. Its the dna of ireland. Theyve taken this ancient woodland, and theyre growing more of it. I mean, its absolutely wonderful. But if one of the objectives is to offset carbon, then there is a big problem. There just isnt enough of it. The irish scheme is really tiny, its just seven hectares. Its not even the size of a small farm. We asked this academic to calculate the emissions the tree schemes in ireland and portugal would remove from the atmosphere. They are woefully inadequate. In terms of the scale of these schemes, theyre very, very small. Compared to the amount of emissions that have been generated from these flights. Hes estimated ryanairs 2019 emissions using available data. He says, for each of the next 20 years, the tree projects would offset less than 0. 01 of this years emissions. Its a drop in the ocean. To me, thats a gimmick, it is a green gimmick rather than a serious attempt to slow down Climate Change. To offset all of ryanairs 2019 emissions by planting trees, theyd have to cover about 12 of the uk. The point here is that youve got a large and growing airline that emits a lot of Carbon Dioxide and your offsetting scheme nowhere near meets that. Absolutely wrong. But theres an irish forest, isnt there, in roscommon, which is seven hectares . I mean, it is nothing. From little acorns grow mighty trees. If youve only got seven hectares, youre only going to get seven hectares of mighty oaks, arent you . Hold on, weve only started this in the last year. I mean, were working with four projects. Were replanting trees in monchique in portugal. Were supporting whales and dolphins in ireland. The whale tracking project, which has nothing to do with Carbon Dioxide. No, but its good for the environment. I dont think any of our customers will object to supporting whales and dolphins in ireland. The ryanair offset scheme also pays for fuel efficient cookstoves in uganda. This project offsets much more c02 than the trees. But over a year, its still only the equivalent of under a week of ryanairs annual emissions. This is a small programme that started in the last year. All it does is a gesture, its no more than that. And 3 of our passengers are good enough to contribute one euro per ticket to that programme. Is a gesture, as you call it, adequate . Its a donation. We never dont claim that it offsets the entire value of your flight. Youre still not happy. You still want to bitch about the scheme. The truth is, youd have to pay far more than £1 to make a substantial difference. Can you really pay £1 and kind of absolve yourself of responsibility for the Carbon Emissions that youve created . Not at all. That £1 probably wouldnt scale to the emissions from your flight. But secondly, youve still emitted a tonne of c02, or 200 kilos of c02. And that will be remaining in the atmosphere for hundreds of years to come. But the principle of Carbon Offsetting remains appealing. It allows passengers to feel less guilty and the airlines to keep on growing. And the industry believes it can work. Time for another flight. Were in montreal, at the un body that helps governments regulate the industry. The International Civil aviation 0rganisation, or icao. Here, after years of talks, countries are working on the small print for an offsetting scheme agreed for International Flights. Its called corsia. Annie petsonk took part in the talks for an environmental group. The negotiations on corsia were very difficult, with some countries saying, we cannot meet a 2020 target, our Airlines Need to grow in the future. And others saying, if we cannot limit the Carbon Dioxide emissions of our aircraft, the future of our industry is in jeopardy. Merci beaucoup. Corsia was a political compromise between 193 governments with input from the industry reflecting some of the realities of the aviation sector. We actually think its a very good deal because it has the buy in from everybody. Heres how itll work. Under the new deal, next year participating countries will add up their annual Carbon Dioxide emissions from internationalflights. Then from 2021, when emissions go over that level, airlines will have to pay to offset them. Corsia has the potential to be a good scheme. As airlines see that theyre going to have to pay for Carbon Pollution for the first time ever, they are scrambling to find how to cut emissions inside their operations. But critics say its not nearly ambitious enough. Corsia is only designed to deal with the growth in emissions. So the vast majority of Carbon Dioxide wont be offset. Whats more, lots of countries, including china and russia, Wont Take Part until 2027. And some argue the very concept of offsetting is a problem. Campaigners like Andrew Murphy say it hasnt delivered in the past. 0ffsetting is the most flawed climate tool. Weve had about 20 Years Experience globally of trying to make offsetting work. And what weve had is wind farms that were going to be built anyway, trees that ended up being burned down anyway. Its not working as a climate tool. But at the same time, the Aviation Industry is increasingly seeing offsetting as essentially its get out ofjail card climate policy. Icao said the offset scheme is just one of numerous measures states and industry are pursuing to limit emissions. But how committed are airlines to keeping emissions down . Panorama has been given details of an industry wide practice that is at odds with their promises on Climate Change. A British Airways insider is prepared to blow the whistle on what he believes is an industry putting profit before the planet. Hes worried speaking out will cost him hisjob so wants to remain anonymous. I believe them to be misleading passengers to think that British Airways is more sustainable than it actually is. British airways says its investing in fuel efficient planes and from next year will fully offset domestic flights. Weve set ourselves the vision to be the Worlds Leading Airline group on sustainability. Over the last three years, our fuel Efficiency Programme has saved over 200,000 tonnes of c02. But our insider reveals an industry practice called tankering which causes unnecessary emissions. It means some flights, mostly short haul, carry more fuel than they need to reach their destination. Usually, its to save money by not refuelling at airports where fuel is more expensive. Ultimately, you have to understand their motivation. They exist to make money. Aviation is a very cost aggressive industry, and any opportunity you can find to save or make money you will do so. And British Airways is no different. But this cost saving has an environmental impact. If you carry more fuel, the plane weighs more. You need to burn more fuel to transport it. So you get additional emissions of c02 that otherwise would not have taken place. If you imagine loading up your car for a School Holiday with all the family and all the kids and all the suitcases in the back, you use more petrol to drive along the motorway. And flying is much the same. The industry says its doing everything it can to reduce weight in order to cut emissions. Airlines are working on a daily basis to make the aircraft lighter, so using new types of seats, new catering trollies, removing paper from the cockpit. Ba even boasts it prints its in flight magazine on lighter paper to save weight. But weve seen dozens of ba internal documents. They show up to six tonnes of extra fuel have been loaded onto planes on short haul routes. So heres one example. A recent ba flight to italy carried more fuel than it needed for thatjourney. The extra fuel burned to carry it generated more than 600kg of c02. 00 25 39,281 2147483051 49 34,355 thats the same 2147483051 49 34,355 4294966103 13 29,430 as one persons emissions
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