Page 61 - European Energy Innovation - Summer 2017 publication

Summer 2017 European Energy Innovation
of its kind: setting the framework
for cheap air tickets, an increased
connectivity throughout the EU and
the development of a strong and safe
European aeronautics industry.
Thirty years later, while aviation is
becoming more popular, in a trend that
seems to be irreversible, EU policy is in for experiments in the field of the
need of fresh air to respond to the new
set-up of the international scene, where
international competition is growing
as much as the awareness about
climate change. With the publication
of its Aviation Strategy for Europe, the
Commission initiated a momentum for
the redefinition of a long term vision
for the sector, which I tried to input
through my report.
A strategy for aviation in Europe
can only be such if we take a
comprehensive view of the aviation
sector as such, if we include it in a
complete picture of the transport
sector as a whole, and eventually
if it reflects upon the integration of
transport policies within other policies. of the EU aeronautic industry and the
Only then we can aim at concerted
actions that will enable to produce a
truly efficient EU policy against
climate change.
A common mistake in policy making is
the temptation to adopt a fragmented
approach: dealing with one topic
after the other. Too often the risk
is to end up with a lack of global
coherence or to miss on opportunities.
An example is the aviation strategy
and the circular economy package:
www.europeanenergyinnovation.eu
61
AVIATION
while both files share an obvious link
with the environment and the fight
against climate change and while both
discussions took place more or less
in parallel, instinctively no one would
draw any link between them. That is a
pity because the aviation sector, to a
certain extent, can be a practice field
circular economy, whether is it for waste
management or recyclable fuels.
Too often transport policies are
excluded from the spotlight, either
because they seem too technical
or because we fail to demonstrate
their impact on the everyday life,
and the only moment we remember
about transport is to blame it for its
emissions. Actually, the fact is that
transport policies are about mobility
and therefore whoever claims that the
answer to less emission is less air travel reduce emissions and noise for their
is mistaken. Not only this is denying that operations and those initiatives should
in quite few cases there is no alternative be encouraged. Another relevant
to air connection, but this easy way
out is also neglecting the performance
even greater potential that is facing it.
Of course this doesn’t mean that we
should blindly support air connections
between every single city in the EU.
A key element of the strategy is the
integration of the aviation sector within
the other modes of transport and that
is why I support the development of an
air connectivity index which should aim
at a resilient transport network, built on and funds to strengthen their position
the complementarity of each modes
of transport. In order to do so, such
an indicator should take into account
not only frequency and time of a
connection but environmental aspects
and the availability of other modes
of transport.
The success of the CleanSky
programme proves that a combination
of technology and innovation are the
path to success in reducing emissions.
Galileo is another example of an EU
programme whose potential for the
aviation sector still needs to be fully
seized, for instance to enable more
optimised landing operations.
The aviation sector is not limited
to air travel and the reduction of
emissions also concerns airports and
all their operational activities. Many
airports are already investing in more
efficient facilities and equipment to
aspect is the actual access to airports:
if for many airports we can already
identify the least polluting way to
reach the airport, for some airports
there seems to be no alternative to
private cars.
Fighting climate change creates an
opportunity for our industries, but the
same opportunities are open to their
competitors as well and that is why I
wish for EU industries to make a full
use of the available EU programmes
and to lead the way towards the
decarbonisation of air travel. l