Next German government must pave way for climate-neutral flying - NGOs

The next German government must ensure that aviation can become climate-neutral within 20 years, which will require a plethora of policy initiatives, an alliance of environmental NGOs has said. The future government, which will be decided in next month’s elections, must present a roadmap outlining the necessary steps to reach climate neutrality by 2045, Germany’s national target, the alliance urged.

“Passenger numbers have returned to pre-corona levels and, without countermeasures, further strong growth in flight emissions is expected in the coming years,” said the alliance, which included environmental NGO umbrella group DNR and clean mobility think tank Transport & Environment (T&E).

Reducing the climate impacts of flying will require more than just switching to climate-neutral aviation fuels, technical measures on aircraft, or optimised flight routes to tackle climate-damaging non-CO2 effects, the NGOs argued. “Shifting short and medium-haul flights to rail and reducing flight performance are also necessary - not for ideological reasons, but because climate-neutral fuels are limited and expensive and technical measures only work in the long term,” they argued, adding that making the sector sustainable will also require reducing aircraft noise and air pollution in the vicinity of airports.

“Politicians must drive forward the expansion of capacities for the production of electricity-based aviation fuels (e-kerosene),” the NGOs said. “This must also be flanked by appropriate tax measures. For this reason, the further development of the national aviation tax and the European Emissions Trading Scheme are essential.” The groups urged a phase-out of tax privileges and subsidies for air transport. They said attractive train services are also needed to shift domestic and European flights to rail.

NGO Germanwatch, which was also part of the initiative, said there was a huge gap in the aviation sector between climate neutrality commitments and continued growth in emissions. “The challenge of achieving climate neutrality through technical innovations, new fuels, modal shift and avoidance is enormous. At the same time, climate measures in aviation offer great opportunities for Germany and Europe as a business location,” Germanwatch said.

A working group made up of government officials and industry representatives focusing on climate-neutral aviation in June called for a clear commitment by political leaders and industry to the market ramp-up of sustainable aviation fuels, as well as several other key measures to reduce the sector’s greenhouse gas output. But the head of Germany’s largest airline Lufthansa recently warned against German “solo attempts” to curb emissions.