Meeting commenced at 1pm
Present: Robert McLachlan (Massey), Susanne Becken (Griffith), Tim Ryley (Griffith), Anita Wreford (Lincoln), Ben Neville (Melbourne), Kim Blackmore (Australian National), Sal Lampkin (Massey), Karin Rhoda (minute taking)
Apologies: Jan Evans-Freeman (Canterbury), Lynda Johnston (Waikato), Brendan Moyle (Massey), Leanne Morrison (Tasmania), Gillian Lewis (Auckland), Bronwyn Hayward (Canterbury)
Welcomes
The Chair welcomed Karin Rhoda (Massey), our new Administrator, & Associate Professor Ben Neville from University of Melbourne and provided an update on other changes to the AUATC members’ list.
Air travel research discussions
Two 2023 papers, ‘Managing Aotearoa New Zealand’s greenhouse gas emissions from aviation’ & ‘Decarbonising Aotearoa New Zealand’s Aviation Sector: hard to abate, but even harder to govern’ were presented and discussed. The former assesses the technological solutions currently available, and the latter focuses on policy aspects. Key points include:
- International emissions from New Zealand have tripled since 1990 & NZ domestic emissions are 12% of the nation’s total CO2 emissions. In the COVID-19 recovery, travel trends are still in a somewhat discombobulated state.
- Mainstream opinion is that aviation is hard to abate, and technological solution will not be the silver bullet people are hoping
- This research shows that all the technological solutions are difficult, expensive, and uncertain
- Decreasing carbon intensity is unlikely to have large impact, as this needs the length of flights curtailed while maintaining the number of passengers
- An immediate goal is to ensure international aviation and shipping enter the 2050 target. The Climate change commission will advise on this in 2024
- The NZ governmental departments are looking at their air travel closely, and there needs to be more awareness nationally of the disproportionate amount of emissions from air travel compared to other areas of life.
A third 2023 paper, ‘Implications of preferential access to land and clean energy for Sustainable Aviation Fuels’ was then presented and discussed. This paper explores the physics of SAF as a solution. Key points include:
- The paper’s premise is that the planet is limited in its resources and if we decarbonise collectively, one sector has a disproportionate access to resources. If the focus is on biomass, then aviation would use the available bioenergy, which is unjust as only a small percentage of people fly.
- There were several claims that SAF will reduce emissions by 80%; however, the majority of SAF will not achieve this and without substantial investment, reduced passenger numbers will be required.
- This paper has been circulated and there has been interest from industry.
- SAF is the only viable option for long haul flights, all the other options regarding electric and hydrogen use will be for shorter flights, less than 8000km.
Specific travel guidelines survey
Results from the five members who have completed this were presented. The members who were leading this work have left the AUATC so, for now, the survey will be re-circulated for a fuller set of responses.
NZ Funding Bodies meeting
Minutes from this meeting were circulated for distribution within member institutions, noting they are not for public circulation at this stage. It was agreed that the two Australian research councils, Australian Research Council and National Health & Medical Research Council, will be invited to the next meeting in November. Two or three AUATC members from each country will also attend the meeting. The inclusion of a research operations director, who more directly understands the funding landscape, was discussed with no decision made.
AOB
Griffith University’s seminar series, ‘Aviation Reimagined’ has been confirmed for 2023, being held over four Thursdays in October. Links will be sent and shared in approximately 2 weeks.
Short discussion on how universities have introduced policies and procedures to achieve reduced carbon emissions.
Date of next meeting
Wednesday 4 October 2023, 1-2pm (NZDT)