This document was written by Éric Dautriat, Philippe Forestier, Philippe Fonta, Jean-Marc Garot and Alain Joselzon, members of the Energy and Environment Commission (C2E) of the Air and Space Academy.
The first describes how air transport is included in international climate agreements, the second the coordinating bodies for the decarbonisation of air transport and the third deconstructs the expression, which has gone viral, “Only 1% of people are responsible for 50% of global aviation emissions”.
With the Covid effect, the suggestive vision of air transport temporarily at a standstill, the observation of the possibility of continuing certain activities remotely without necessarily having to
flying, has had an impact on ways of thinking, raised questions, acted as a catalyst, creating a very favorable context for a sharp increase in aviation targeting, in recent years, with strong disparities between regions and countries, according to the interests and aspirations at stake.
These “too visible” planes are also accused of “transporting the rich”. Admittedly, the very communication of air transport has too often focused on dream destinations and first-class images for us to be surprised by this criticism, that the democratization of air transport is not yet enough to counteract.
The dissemination of real decarbonisation solutions, in fact and in communication, accompanied by greater societal awareness, is the best response to this media “targeting” of aviation Media pressure can be beneficial by encouraging air transport to be an actor in the fight against climate change at the height of what air travel means from a technical point of view, sociological and economic.