The causes and effects of the Covid-19 pandemic have all brought our fears to the forefront. Human existence and well-being is threatened by every other thing: climate change, pollution, diminishing land productivity, collapsing health systems etc.
But we have a silver lining, when the stagnant life will be rekindled after a considerable hiatus, there is a lot to start with clean slate.
It will just not be enough to adapt or change a few things here and there, rather there is a need to build greater resilience and awareness towards sustainable living, much needed to protect our ecosystems as well as our economies.
India’s call towards its NDCs and even other ambitious goals towards electric vehicles usage and renewable energy to limit increasing global temperatures may help delay upcoming global shocks.
However, sustainability, pervasive in all spheres is what we need to adapt to a rapidly changing world.
India’s passenger traffic has helped transport 341.05 million people in FY20 and it has consistently grown at an annual growth rate (CAGR) of 11.13% during FY16-FY20.
Hence, air transport has become as the backbone of the Indian transport industry serving the established trade and commerce and now carrying passengers to remote places.
Indian aviation market is the fastest-growing domestic market across the globe at present and hopes to be the third biggest (behind China and the United States) in air passenger market probably by end of 2029.
Why Indian aviation sector needs to set out priorities?
The Indian civil aviation industry contributes approximately one per cent of total global carbon dioxide (Co2) emissions, lesser than the global average.
But being the ninth-largest aviation market in the world with more than 17 international airports, 80 domestic airports, 14 scheduled airlines, 120 non-scheduled airlines, India has a huge responsibility to curb evils of the sector.
With globalization and multilateralism, there is constant spilling of skilled as well as semi-skilled Indians to other areas along with goods and services.
According to IPCC report, only around 4.9% of humans have been responsible for climate change, including the greenhouse gases and Carbon dioxide emissions.
ICAO’s Environment Report 2010, has suggested different domestic and international operations accounting for 38% and 62% of global fuel consumption respectively.
By 2020 it was believed by The Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation that the Indian commercial fleet can grow by 1000 aircrafts (380 aircraft for now) and increase the fuel consumption to 3-3.5.
Hence there is no doubt that it is one of the fastest-growing industries in the global market, is constantly growing and has consumed significant quantities of non-renewable fuels leading to their depletion.
The pathetic state of Indian cities and lessening lives due to air pollution there. is already well-known.
Pandemic has crashed all projections; this can be molded into an opportunity by studying and correcting all the potential threats to planet.
Commercial aviation and its unaccounted hazards:
Environmental impact: According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, CO2 gets emitted from the aircraft due to the combustion of fossil fuels.
Even at certain altitudes where the commercial airlines fly, the released CO2 does not condense. This happens because the temperature here (from -35 degree C to -50 degree C) may be warmer than the freezing point of the gas (56 degrees C).
Hence, it disperses slowly because of the prevailing pressure i.e.101 PSIG.
Consequently, the pollutants and air get mixed, causing ground-level air pollution and climate change.
Spraying pollutants in upper atmosphere:
Not alone Carbon-di-oxide but subsonic, supersonic jets are known to emit NOx in Troposphere along with other volatile organic components responsible for destroying Ozone layer.
Plus, increased concentration of O3 augments the effect of global warming.
Undoubtedly, Nitrogen oxide renders a cooling effect in the atmosphere by reducing the greenhouse gases like methane but simultaneously the formation of Ozone leads to warming.
After much balancing the duo, an overall effect is the increased temperature of earth’s atmosphere. Airplanes even give out soot which trap the outgoing infrared radiation causing regional warming.
They emit many toxic elements while picking-up the flight, in large amount which spread over an area of 12 miles long and 12 miles wide on take-off, causing bad air quality around the ground stations.
Impact on water:
Aviation gives rise to water pollution as they dump all toxic chemicals, de-ice airplanes during winter storms into water. For de-icing, the airlines mix around 55% of glycol and 45% of water, at 185 degrees F heat and spray it on the planes.
Ethylene glycol consumes high levels of oxygen during decomposition and is a powerful toxin too, leading to depletion of fresh and potable water in addition to being harmful to aquatic animals around.
AVIATION NOISE POLLUTION
The aerodynamic noise arising from the airflow surfing through the surfaces of the aircraft, flying low at high speeds is disturbing to Humans as well as birds, searching their ways in sky to even vegetation and inorganic materials.
It is known to cause several negative stress-mediated health effects, from sleep disorders to cardiovascular ones and even impacts memory and learning in children.
Different timings and at certain airports, noise limits are set to curb noise pollution during certain heavy traffic hours.
How are air quality standards assessed in India?
According to the Ministry of State for Environment and Forests, the ambient air quality standards which are notified in India are equivalent to the European levels, although exceed the standards prevalent in the US.
It is decided and revised under National Ambient Air Quality after measuring 12 pollutants in total to calculate the level of air pollution. Even industries have to comply to the same standards.
International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) is responsible for setting the aviation noise standards but there are no prescribed standards yet to curb noise pollution around the airports in India.
Indian aviation sector has cocooned from an over-regulated and rigidly managed sector to a more liberal and investment-friendly in recent times.
Aviation pollution, being lesser than vehicular or power emissions, is not a part of negotiations under Kyoto protocol.
With growing concern among the citizenry and even activists like Greta Thunberg quitting air-travel, there is growing responsibility among scientists, and increased scrutiny from government (especially in EU).
Do we have an alternative? What is SAF? What does it offer?
Sustainable aviation fuel is a cleaner fuel churned out of sustainable feedstocks derived from various types of waste, power-to-liquid using hydrogen technology, raw materials of garbage, used cooking oil or agriculture residues.
Added advantage lies in the fact that no new infrastructure or machinery will be needed, surpassing no new investment and is 100% less carbon-intensive when compared to conventional fuels.
Utilizing these solid and semi-solid wastes in SAF production can help in efficient management of wastes and prevention of crop burning from farmlands, leading to another level of
Newly developed aircrafts can operate on maximum certified blend of 50% SAF i.e. more than 330 000 flights around the world have been powered by it.
India and SAF story: A bright future of an emerging leader
According to World economic forum: “The Deploying Sustainable Aviation Fuels at Scale in India Report is a Clean Skies for Tomorrow Publication, a result of The World Economic Forum driving a coalition of private and public organizations in India that have contributed analysis on technology pathways and feedstocks availability and sustainability for the ramp up of SAF production in India.”
In order to realize this efficient blending of biofuels in ATF (aviation turbine fuel), the supply chain has to be strengthened in order to purchase the residue from farmlands or households to various facilities to produce fuel.
The government of India has proposed a target of 20% blending of ethanol in petrol and 5% blending of biodiesel in diesel by 2030. Not only this but several initiatives have been introduced to increase indigenous production of biofuels.
Even a 10% blend of SAF on all domestic flights, according to WEF, would require almost 360,000 tonnes of SAF.
With minimal blending, India can achieve cleaner skies with less-open air crop burning in one go. It dares to create 120 000 new jobs and revitalize the stagnant waste management systems, weaning significant societal benefits.
This method of Atmanirbhar bharat can add $2.7-2.8 billion to India’s GDP by 2030.
Indian National Policy on Biofuels has been crystal clear in supporting feedstocks unutilized for food supply and undertaking the critical life cycle analysis (LCA) of feedstock and production pathways across the country.
Further, the Green Aviation Policy aims to create a relatively simpler regulatory framework to accelerate the rate of project clearances for civil aviation projects while addressing the environmental concerns.
Here the DGCA will coordinate with other government bodies like Agricultural ministry to make bio-jet fuels more economical.
Above all, decarbonizing its aviation sector is advisable for India to remain committed to its Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC) under Paris Climate treaty.
Like Climate change plays hard on humans, taking shapes of various problems and challenges for us. Lets play a bit harder turning illegitimate waste into fuel to pay for climate justice.