In-person: Drivers of Change in the Environmental Impact of the Aviation Industry
In June 2023, the E.U. European Court of Auditors and the Climate Change Committee of the U.K. Parliament both released reports of their audits of climate goals which naturally considered the impact of aviation CO2 emissions. Both reports highlighted insufficient progress in reducing greenhouse gas emissions. The report of the European Court of Auditors noted that something of the order of 90% of emissions arising from the E.U.’s share of international aviation are excluded from the E.U.’s greenhouse gas emissions target. The UK Parliament’s report had a very strong focus on the aviation industry including: (i) questioning a number of technological assumptions advanced by the aviation industry as a means of reducing greenhouse gas (“GHG”) emissions; and (ii) recommending government should take actions to discourage flying and limit the expansion of airport infrastructure. Aviation is one of the most difficult sectors to decarbonise.
Ana Magdalina and John Caslin presented a paper entitled “Drivers of Change in the Environmental Impact of the Aviation Industry” which provides an overview of the consumer, regulatory, litigation, and financial pressures on the airline industry to reduce its carbon footprint, illustrate possible routes to the decarbonisation of the aviation sector including E.U. initiatives, and consider the greenhouse gas emissions outlook for the aviation industry. The paper can be found here.
John Caslin: John chairs the Society’s Banking and Aviation Finance Committee and is a director of Formidion Aviation Capital Limited. He holds a Diploma in Aviation Leasing and Finance from the Law Society of Ireland, a first-class honours degree and Gold Medal in Engineering from Trinity College, and a Postgraduate Diploma in Engineering in Connected and Autonomous Vehicles from Atlantic Technology University Sligo. He has written a number of briefing notes on the aviation industry for the Society and along with Jane Gleeson wrote and presented a paper entitled “Selling Aviation Debt Securities to EU Insurance Undertakings” to the Society in December 2018.
Ana Magdalina: Ana Magdalina is VP of Research and Analysis at FPG Amentum. With a background in academia, Ana joined the aircraft leasing sector in 2013 as AVP of Strategy at CIT Aerospace. She is focused on exploring sustainability themes in aviation from the point of view of lessors and financiers. Ana has published a number of papers on the airline industry including: (i) “An empirical investigation of European airline business models: Classification and hybridisation”; and (ii) "Sustainability in Aviation: Aircraft Investors’ Perception". Ana is a participant in Aircraft Leasing Ireland, the group which represents aircraft leasing in Ireland.