Extending flight time by piloting planes more slowly could reduce aviation emissions, says a University of Cambridge study cited by Euronews.
This suggests that reducing flight speed by about 15 percent can reduce fuel burn by 5 to 7 percent. Airplanes will likely need to be designed in the future to accommodate this reduction in speed.
The study also notes that the downsides of this policy will fall on passengers – slower speeds can add up to 50 minutes to a transatlantic flight, for example.
Only 10 percent of the world's population currently travels by air. At the same time, aviation already generates about 2,5 percent of global CO2 emissions. If climate impacts other than CO2 are taken into account, its contribution to global warming rises to 4 percent.
The recommendation is just one part of a report outlining a five-year road map from the university that it says will help the aviation industry achieve a net-zero climate impact by 2050.
An ambitious five-year roadmap for sustainable aviation
Current policies, according to the university's analysis, leave the aviation industry seriously off track in delivering on its climate pledges. The report sets out what it says are realistic, sustainable targets for the aviation industry that would make reaching net zero emissions by 2050 more achievable.
“Too often, discussions of how to achieve sustainable aviation vacillate between overly optimistic thinking about the industry's current efforts and doom-laden cataloging of the sector's environmental ills. The Aviation Impact Accelerator's modeling draws on the best available evidence to show that there are major challenges to overcome if we are to achieve net zero flying at scale. It is quite possible," says Elliott Whittington, executive director at the Cambridge Institute for Leadership in Sustainable Development.
The report adds that these bold measures are often overlooked because they require sweeping changes in the aviation sector that are beyond the control of airlines.
Four recommendations for achieving sustainable aviation goals
The first objective would be to eliminate the clouds formed by aviation, known as contrails. They can act as a blanket in the sky, contributing to rising temperatures on earth. Accelerating the deployment of a global avoidance system could reduce aviation's climate impact by up to 40 percent.
The second would be to implement a new wave of policies unlocking system-wide efficiency gains in the aviation sector. This is where the recommendation to slow down flights comes in, along with replacing aircraft with newer models and ensuring that more aircraft are operating within their optimal range.
Measures like this, the report says, could halve fuel burn by 2050, but would have to feed into efficiency targets that are not achievable by individual companies.
The third recommendation involves reforming Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) policies to help rapidly scale up production and ensure it is truly sustainable. According to the university's analysis, the aim is to put in place the global policies needed to minimize the wider impact of SAF on climate and nature.
The last resort is to launch several space technology demonstration programs to advance the schedule for their deployment.