U.S. airlines held a secret meeting with European regulators in an effort to limit the scope of their monitoring of long-distance flights.
What's happening?
According to the Guardian, the lobbying organization Airlines for America held a meeting with the European Commission that was not on any official transparency logs. The aim was to convince the Commission not to track the non-carbon dioxide pollution of flights to and from non-European countries in their data collection.
The group's lobbying was "flying under the radar," as Lucca Ewbank of InfluenceMap told the Guardian.
"Non-CO2 emissions may account for up to two-thirds of the climate impacts of flying, and yet U.S. airlines are trying to dodge accountability for the extra climate-warming long-haul flights may cause," they added.
Why is non-carbon dioxide monitoring important?
According to the Guardian, air travel generates other planet-warming gases beyond just carbon dioxide. Nitrogen oxides, sulfur dioxide, and water vapor are all produced by jet engines, and all of those gases have a negative impact on our warming planet.
While it's unclear how much of an impact these gases have, the European Commission plans to address the lack of knowledge with the new monitoring regulations.
According to the report, the Commission plans to monitor all flights within Europe by 2025, and all flights to and from other destinations by 2027, to figure out how much of the non-carbon dioxide gas is being released into the atmosphere by international travel.
Airlines for America pushed back against the new regulations, saying they would "consider all available options" to prevent them from being implemented. The International Air Transport Association said the new regulations would raise "extraterritorial concerns" and questioned whether the regulations would do anything to improve scientific understanding.
What's being done about planet-warming gases from air travel?
Outside of the regulations, which are still being discussed by the European Commission, airplane manufacturers have been experimenting with new technology that could slash their production of planet-warming gases.
A recent study suggested that all flights under 450 miles could be powered by hydrogen by the year 2045. Meanwhile, the world's largest electric battery maker completed a successful test of its 4-ton airplane battery, opening the door to a potential commercial use in the near future.
On top of that, a jet fuel that reduces carbon dioxide pollution by 80 percent has been successfully tested in a commonly used jet engine, meaning it could see commercial use soon as well.
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