Aviation Industry and Sustainability: Impact of Air Transport on Climate Change, Sustainability in Airlines and End-users Awareness and Preferences

Abstract

Climate change, one of the most critical and urgent issues nowadays, is shifting the present generation’s attention to embracing friendly practices toward the environment and society to safeguard their own needs and future generations’ ones, giving the origin to the sustainability development approach. According to IPCC’s latest Assessment Reports, human activities are chiefly accountable for growing global warming and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions levels, among which companies, principal drivers of productivity and economic growth, should take prompt action to reach decarbonization and the Paris Agreement’s goal in time. In particular, the air transport sector, a principal enabler of economic and social development capable of connecting individuals and economies worldwide, plays a crucial role in such a transition path due to the complex contribution of air travel emissions to climate change. In particular, the air transport sector represents one of the main contributors to human-generated climate change, contributing to around 2% of global CO2 emissions (IEA, 2023b), amounting to 3.5% when considering also non-CO2 emiossions (H. Ritchie, 2024). Despite the several emission reduction measures already implemented, IATA expected the air traffic demand to almost double between 2016 and 2036 (IATA, 2017). The enormous pace at which air traffic is expected to grow reverts the compensation effects of the mitigation measures adopted, requiring immediate action from all air transport industry stakeholders to combine different emission reduction measures to effectively reach the long-term aspirational goal (LTAG) of net-zero CO2 emissions by 2050 established by ICAO in 2022. Therefore, considering the current climate emergency and the growing importance of sustainability across economic sectors, airline companies are now adopting different green solutions to fulfill stakeholders’ increasing demand for sustainability, discharging their accountability via sustainability reporting. According to some studies, customer satisfaction counts on airlines’ eco-friendliness level, correlating airlines’ positive approach to sustainability with customer loyalty, recalling the pivotal role of green reputation for airlines’ growth and profitability. Following a thorough theoretical analysis comprehending the presentation of the burgeoning role of sustainability within economic sectors, alongside an examination of the environmental and climate-related impacts of air traffic, as well as the key actions aimed at promoting sustainability initiatives undertaken by legislators and industry’s stakeholders, this study endeavors to investigate consumers’ environmental beliefs and awareness, alongside their responses regarding air traffic-related climate concerns. This investigation is conducted by administering a tailored survey aimed at discerning how end-users perceive and address aviation-related climate issues and sustainability practices embraced by principal industry stakeholders (i.e., airlines), with particular attention to their sociodemographic attributes and sustainability preferences.