U.S. Airlines Feel Pressure to Be Green
A dispute over a European emissions-trading proposal has caught U.S. airlines and airplane makers by surprise, spurring them to launch a public relations blitz highlighting their green bona fides, even if most of their work has been aimed at boosting their bottom lines. (See The Washington Post, July 28, 2007: “U.S. Airlines Under Pressure To Fly Greener; Carriers Already Trying to Save Fuel as Europe Proposes Plan”). Nancy N. Young, the new vice president of environmental affairs at the Air Transport Association, U.S. carriers’ main trade group said “We know that it’s coming here. . .Aviation has lost the public square in this debate. We need to do a better job of letting people know that our environmental interests are directly aligned with our business interests.”
It is evident that people inside and outside of the U.S. airline industry are looking at what is going in other parts of the world, Europe in particular, to address environmental concerns, specifically global warming, and show that environmental interests are real interests that need to be addressed in every sector.
Read the story (requires subscription)