UK Goverment Calls for Airline Ecolabels
Flybe zooms to rescue. Does industry want saving?

The airline ecolabel saga continues. According to an article in today’s Financial Times, MPs have accused the airline industry of dragging its feet on environmental issues. They have called for an ecolabel for the airline industry, referencing this industry developed example in use by Flybe.

Flybe has responded by inviting the industry to use its label as a template. They’ve even gone so far as to offer their services to other airlines. A new stage in the evolutionary process of ecolabels?

Continued radio silence from IATA.

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Posted by Jacob on Tuesday, February 5th, 2008 | Permalink |

Chorus for Airline Ecolabel Grows
Is IATA wearing noise cancelling headphones?

According to Conde Nast’s Perrin Post a number of groups at the recent World Travel Markets conference called for a CO2 based ecolabel for the airline industry.

So far nothing from IATA, though their enviro.aero website logo looks suspiciously like an ecolabel. The next big meeting on environment and air travel takes place in April, maybe we’ll hear some more action-oriented news then.
Fly More Efficiently from ‘The Perrin Post’ by Conde Nast Traveler magazine.

1 Comment » | Tags: airline, standards
Posted by Jacob on Wednesday, November 28th, 2007 | Permalink |

Report calls for airplane ecolabel
Help! We're flying blind!

A report referenced in the UK based Telegraph has called for an airplane based ecolabel to “inform passengers how much carbon their journey is producing, enabling them to make informed choices about how they travel.”

Would it be better to focus on carbon or look at the overall environmental footprint of the airline (would being organic make the food taste better)? While developing a carbon label might be the shortest path with the best impact, if the standard was capped with carbon customers might assume a low carbon airline is making its best total effort toward the planet.

Further, merely disclosing the amount of carbon would do little to inform consumers, most of whom are not carbon accountants. One solution could be a graded label, like the one used for energy consumption in Europe.

Another more difficult option used by many product ecolabels could be simply setting the highest standard feasible and raising the grade over time “good vs bad”. The Marine Stewardship Council and the Forest Stewardship Council follow this path. Their current challenge there is how to handle their brand in a rapidly changing industry.

Making those decisions would seem like an ideal job for the the International Air Transport Association (IATA) perhaps in partnership with the ISEAL Alliance, a group that promotes consistent ecolabel standards.

IATA’s environment section states that one of their goals is to develop industry positions on key environmental issues. So far they do not appear to have considered an ecolabel. Their homepage is covered in lovely green leaves though.

Travel news in brief - Telegraph

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Posted by Jacob on Saturday, November 17th, 2007 | Permalink |