Rise to the challenge

The past year has seen a growing storm of environmental campaigners threatening to bring the air transport industry down to earth. The past few weeks have seen two high-profile protests at Heathrow and parliament. Some groups are convinced that aviation is not doing enough in the effort against climate change. Planes seem to have overtaken automobiles for environmental criticism, although their impact is far less.

It is true that we in the industry need to do a lot more. But we have also been doing a bad job at communicating both our progress on the environment and the fundamental role that aviation now plays in the world economy.

Today, commercial aviation - directly and indirectly - contributes 8% of global GDP and supports 29m jobs. Aviation also transports 40% by value of inter-regional exports of goods, facilitating access to new markets for developing countries. Simply put, air transport has made the modern world possible.

While fulfilling this critical economic role, the industry has nevertheless pursued substantial efficiency gains and improved environmental performance - unmatched by any other sector. Over the past 40 years, for instance, we have reduced relative fuel burn by 70%, while aircraft noise levels have been cut by more than 20 decibels, reducing the perceived noise by more than 75%.

This is just the start. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change's projection is that aviation's share of man-made CO2 emissions could move from 2% to 3% by 2050. Our industry should not allow this to happen, and action should be taken by us now.

Aviation has constantly risen to meet such great challenges, from the origins of manned flight in the early 20th century to breaking barriers of speed, distance and economy in the jet age. It is essential that we rise to the environmental challenge or, as an industry, we can fully expect that regulatory authorities and governments will take matters into their own hands. We must come together and move to the forefront of eco-efficiency. We must and we can.

In Europe, industry-agreed targets remain our top priority: by 2020 we want to see 50% less CO2; 80% less nitrous oxides; and 50% less noise (than under technologies available in 2000). These targets are within reach. The industry's focus must be on fostering accelerated use of new technologies, encouraging fuel-efficient operations by airlines, the promotion of efficient infrastructure, and the application of positive economic incentives to stimulate innovation.

The recent A380 demonstration flight with gas-to-liquid synthetic fuel was just a step along the way, as was Virgin's first biofuel flight. We are focused on developing second- and third-generation biofuels that are truly sustainable and do not compete with food resources and production. We believe such fuel sources will become available in commercial quantities from 2015, and that these biofuels will be providing up to 30% of jet fuels by 2030. There are many other steps that need to be taken, and a concerted push will be needed - particularly in transnational research and technology - from the whole industry.

Climate change is a global issue with multiple causes - and an issue that needs a global solution. If technological improvements are not seen as enough to offset growth in terms of greenhouse gas emissions, additional economic "incentives" are to be anticipated.

In my view, 2008 is a moment of truth for aviation. One day we will look back to this year as the time we either took significant action together - as an industry - or as the time we lost control of our destiny and left it to others to "solve" our challenges for us.

Tom Enders, president and chief executive officer of Airbus.