Here FlyingTypers continues our unique and singular, concerted publishing effort in air cargo with Part Five of our ongoing exclusive series created by noted industry leader thinker, dreamer and doer, the great Robert Arendal.      FlyingTypers will continue this series during 2019 and we invite your comments.      As you can see by our realtime biofuel flights map here, United Airlines and SAS with a majority of the movements, along with KLM, Lufthansa, Norwegian and some others have marshaled scheduled biofuel flights. Measured against global airline operations these flights are a modest first step in the right direction. The skies remain wide open for even more of these movements as the clock keeps ticking and our world keeps turning. Geoffrey

     On May 26th, Denmark and other EU countries voted on national candidates to represent each country in the EU Parliament. Each elected national candidate in turn affiliate with one of the political groups of the EU Parliament, determined by each national party’s political conviction. Consequently, Denmark shall elect 13 candidates (14 once the UK –finally! - leaves the EU). The EU’s 751 Parliament members handle and vote on highly important EU issues, representing the interest of the EU citizens and as such get involved in the EU budget and many other issues, such the EU Climate Policy.
     This year - 2019 – Climate Change has been high on many EU countries “priority” list; in Denmark – as in many other Nordic and EU countries – 56% of the Danish citizens said that “Climate” was the most important issue and numerous demonstrations in Denmark and many other EU countries have confirmed Climate Change as “key issue” to be tackled by EU and national politicians in the coming years.
     Consequently, Climate Change was a key issue also in the national elections, that took place in Denmark on June 5th, 2019.
     This development has brought many questions of how we best react to Climate Change – both nationally as well as internationally – as most people expect the change to affect our societies and our daily life and day-to-day going-about! And rightly so, as the transition from a fossil-based energy source to sustainable, renewable and bio-based energy sources shall be one – if not the one – of the biggest human challenges we have ever been confronted with.      The change requires a profound shift in behaviour and our economy as well as the use of the renewable resources available!
     Many countries proclaim that they shall be “CO2 Neutral” by 2030 or 2050! Being CO2 Neutral means that each country shall have NO CO2/GHG emissions!! That again means no more energy from fossil fuels!
     And NO more fossil fuels mean that the world’s oil production shall come to an END and be replaced by sustainable, renewable energy sources. And the word END of fossil fuels means that the world’s oil-industry shall cease its existence! Most people would say “that’s not possible”! Well, that could be correct, at least for some time to come, and yet “there is no way around it, if we wish to save the planet” – and ourselves!
     True, there shall be new technologies that can capture our CO2/GHG emissions from fossil fuels at an “affordable cost”, but so far no such technology is available at an economical price.
     In addition to the EU Parliament election for 2019, the position of the President of the European Commission comes up for election and his or her views and convictions for the global Climate shall be a decision factor.
      As young Greta Thunberg, the 16-year old Swedish Climate activist called out the politicians on climate change, “You are not going to like what I say, but I will say it anyhow, because it’s my generation that shall be “condemned” if you politicians’ do not act NOW!

The EU, Climate and Aviation

     You may rightly ask the question “What has the EU Parliament, Climate and the President of the EU Commission to do with aviation?
     And the answer is of course, that aviation is an integrated part of the excessive CO2/GHG emission that the world is generating and confronted with right now! As I have expressed in my earlier articles, the CO2/GHG emissions from aviation is influencing the increasing global warming, as aircraft emission from fossil fuel increases the ppm’s (Particles Per Million) in the atmosphere that in turn creates global warming.
     EU is aggressively pursuing a climate policy that shall meet the European targets for reducing CO2/GHG emission in line with the Paris Agreement and consequently implement the criteria that shall curb CO2 emissions and replace polluting energy sources - such as fossil fuels – with sustainable, renewable energy sources, such as alternative fuels from various types of biomasses, waste and other residues, that meet the CO2 reduction criteria.
     As a result of the EU’s present and future guidelines, mandates and directives, aviation’s emissions from flights to/from and within the EU shall have to be operated in accordance with these criteria.

The Nordic countries and Sustainable Aviation

     Over the recent years, the Nordic countries are - step by step - coming to terms with the stricter and more demanding emission reduction requirements as well as the guidelines for the use and Blend-In of Sustainable Aviation Fuels (SAF). These EU and national criteria have stimulated various actions by local airlines, airports and others to initiate various projects to be able to meet the “new” guidelines.
     Scandinavian Airlines have initiated a cooperation with PREEM (a major Swedish Oil company and producer) to develop and supply SAS with SAF Blend In fuels by 2030.
     Furthermore, SAS (article above) has entered into an agreement with AIRBUS to develop a 50 seater hybrid/electric airplane as soon as possible, with the aim to operate Inter-Nordic flights with this new and sustainable airplane.

     In the same spirit to find means and ways to reduce CO2/GHG emissions, the Copenhagen Airports (Kastrup) has agreed with SAS, the Danish Aviation Association and local authorities to implement various new initiatives that shall over time result in CPH Airport becoming a Carbon Neutral airport operation by 2050.
      Thus, as Election Time = Climate Time, so does Climate Time = Sustainable Nordic Aviation Time!
Robert Arendal

Air cargo pioneer, dreamer, and doer Robert Arendal has over 45 years of experience in the air cargo industry, occupying various shipping and air cargo management positions in Europe as well as the U.S. In 1970 he became part of the management team that founded Cargolux Airlines International SA, spending 29 years as Senior Vice President Sales, Marketing and Cargo Services as well as Deputy CEO.      Mr. Arendal is a founding father and first Chairman of TIACA (The International Air Cargo Association). He is a past President and presently a member of TIACA's President Council and entered the legendary TIACA Hall of Fame in 1997.      He is co-founder of the Cool Chain Association and has been its chairman for 10 years.      More recently, Mr. Arendal became a founding member of the ‘Sustainable Biofuel Network,’ a group of stakeholders facilitating aviation’s transition from fossil fuels to sustainable and renewable alternative biofuels.

To read Part 1 of this series—Long Road To Tomorrow, Click here.
To read Part 2 of this series—The New Green Vikings, click here.
To read Part 3 of this series—Nordic Countries Go Greener click here.
To read Part 4 of this series—Environment & The Aviation Industry click here.