In an ominous sign for the future under the European Union’s ETS scheme as carbon dioxide emissions from European passenger airlines rose 2.6% to 171.6 million metric tons last year. Emissions were 167.2 million tons in 2009 on a comparable basis. The figures are for scheduled passenger aviation and may exclude some flights that starting in 2012 will fall under the EU emissions-trading system (ETS).
As you may know the volume of freight and passengers carried last year (2010) will determine the portion of free allowances each airline receives in the nine years through to 2020. This means the measurements are for a year when traffic was still recovering from the worst recession on record and when aircraft were grounded by volcanic ash, snow and strikes. So as flights within the EU jump by around 40% between now and 2020, just how are airlines going to cope with flowing all of their profits to energy companies that will at the end of the day hold all the carbon chips to trade. The world has gone mad and ETS is one of the worst examples of rash policy we have seen in many years.
Meanwhile the State of the Nation
President Obama said in his state of the nation speech that he will ensure 80 % of Americans have access to high-speed rail: “To attract new businesses to our shores, we need the fastest, most reliable ways to move people, goods, and information -- from high-speed rail to high-speed internet.” So his thoughts bring America in line with those of China and the EU, which still take Japan as their transportation template to a large extent. The US President said: “Within 25 years, our goal is to give 80% of Americans access to high-speed rail, which could allow you go places in half the time it takes to travel by car. For some trips, it will be faster than flying -- without the pat-down. As we speak, routes in California and the Midwest are already underway.” As we all worry for aviation in a future where high-speed rail exists we need only do what the governments do and refer to Japan as an example of a country where high-speed rail and a huge domestic aviation network complement each other very well. The difference with Japan is of course the sheer number of people per square kilometer. Governments in the West, while looking to reduce emissions also have one eye clearly on a future population far higher than today. But in the US a rail network is needed if the plan is to drive people off the roads. The big news in the state of the nation speech was of course the cessation of subsidised oil. This could well have the effect of driving people out of their cars and Obama’s worry is of course where to put them.
The good news though is that it is highly likely that this speech will help take the steam out of oil prices, any talk in the US of driving people out of their cars through the abolition of subsidies is bound to send oil lower. The question is can they do it?
President Obama also pointed out the problems with American infrastructure saying “Our infrastructure used to be the best -- but our lead has slipped”. ... “Countries in Europe and Russia invest more in their roads and railways than we do.” “China is building faster trains and newer airports. Meanwhile, when our own engineers graded our nation's infrastructure, they gave us a D." .......You may recall that this news service back on the October 19, 2010 ran a feature on the desperate state of US aviation infrastructure and the problems that this will cause in the future (refer to website “editorial comment” button for this).