USA: Virgin Group Chairman Sir Richard Branson calls on the aviation industry to address global warming

Sir Richard Branson called on the aviation industry on Wednesday (September 27) to work together to tackle the "serious problem" of climate change. He said the industry was "waking up to the fact" that the world was heading for a catastrophe and that there was now a sense of urgency to do something about it. Speaking in New York Sir Richard said he believed the industry could "get its act together" to find ways of reducing its impact on the environment but he warned if it did not act, the government should intervene to force them to cut CO2 omissions. Sir Richard said he wants to see a cross industry body set up to look at practical ways of tackling climate change. He has written to industry leaders urging them to force a single co-ordinated approach. "I think now there is a sense of urgency out there to do something about it and the feedback we've got, from the letters that we've sent out to the industry make me believe that we can get the industry to get its act together. Having said that if the industry doesn't get its act together, if there are ideas that can save considerable amounts of CO2, then the government should impose some of these things onto the industry," the Virgin Group Chairman said. The British billionaire, who last week pledged three billion U.S. dollars towards renewable energy initiatives, said if airlines, airports and governments worked together, up to 25 per cent of the world's aviation CO2 omissions could be cut. The aviation industry is currently responsible for 2 per cent of global CO2 emissions. Central to Sir Richard's plans is the creation of holding areas close to the runway where planes could be towed by a small tug before take-off. A plane would only start its engine once on the "starting grid" around 10 minutes before leaving the ground, therefore substantially reducing the time engines need to be running. Arriving aircraft could also be towed to the stand, meaning they could turn their engines off five minutes after touching down. Virgin Atlantic believes the "starting grid" distance could reduce fuel consumption and on-the-ground CO2 emissions of its planes by around 50 per cent ahead of take-off at London's Heathrow airport where queuing times average around 25 minutes and by nearly 90 per cent for flights leaving JFK airport in New York where planes can queue for up to 70 minutes. In addition, the adoption of a smoother, slower method of descent - The Continuous Descent Approach - could significantly reduce emissions, he said rather than coming in to land in a series of steep steps which involves thrusting the engine planes and would glide to the ground. This would only be possible if global air traffic control systems were more efficient. The International Air Transport Association (IATA) have predicted that 12 per cent of global aviation CO2 omissions could be saved if air traffic control systems were more efficient. Sir Richard said he wanted to see the 35 air traffic control organizations in operation in Europe merge into one co-ordinated body. He added that the long term aim of the industry was to find a clean fuel for planes and to manufacture lightweight aircraft. In the meantime, he is questioning the need for domestic flights where an adequate train service was in operation. "When there are trains as alternatives, there is a question mark about, I think, the future of domestic flights over whether more domestic flights should take place in the future, but that is something for governments to decide because if there is an adequate train service people shouldn't have to jump on a plane. And there are a lot of places in the world where people are taking planes for relatively short journeys," he said. Sir Richard said the industry had responded positively to his suggestion and he said he is due to meet with Gatwick airport's managing director next week to discuss how the "starting grid" system could be implemented. When asked why it had taken the industry this long to wake up to the problems of global warming, Branson answered, "I think that the real worry about global warming is something which has only really lit up in the last couple of years. I am guilty of it, I haven't fully appreciated the dangers until the last 12 months, 18 months. Now I realize the dangers, I know we got to do something about it. We've got to spend money investing in alternative fuels and in the meantime we have got to cut our CO2 emissions as dramatically as we possibly can." Branson's pledge of 3 billion U.S. dollars (USD) to combat global warming last week came a day after the Bush administration in the United States said it was committing 3 billion (USD) to climate technology research and development.

ITN Source | September 28, 2006

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