Greenwashing

Christchurch Airport has announced plans to become more sustainable ($100m world-leading solar plant at airport, Dec 2), presumably embarrased that aviation is totally dependent on fossil fuels.

The airport, like Air NZ, says airlines ‘‘would soon be buying craft powered by hydrogen, electricity or sustainable aviation fuels’’. None of these exist.

Plant-based fuels consume more fossil fuels in production than they deliver at the end. No battery or hydrogen plane can fly even a lone pilot from Auckland to Wellington. Such aircraft cannot exist, until some unknown breakthroughs let us bypass inconvenient laws of physics.

These claims are just greenwashing, unless both companies take positive action now. The airport could have all its light cars and vans batterypowered. It owns four e-Golfs which are always parked outside the terminal. What percentage of its light vehicle kilometres in 2021 were driven in pure battery vehicles?

Air NZ offers optional carbon offsets for every flight. Why is this not included in the price of every ticket?

Anything else is just spin. Dave Kelly, Beckenham