The thing about corporate pandering to the Climate Cult is that, sooner or later, harsh reality slaps even the most determinedly virtue-signalling CEO in the face. The alternative is going broke quicker. That’s because ‘climate action’ is as ruinously expensive as it is useless.
Only last week, even Twiggy Forrest gave up pretending that his ‘green hydrogen’ hyperbole was just that.
Now, Air New Zealand, that wokest of carriers, is joining the queue of corporates shuffling their feet and admitting that they were just blowing so much hot air all along.
Air New Zealand has become the first major airline to concede ambitious carbon emissions reduction targets are unachievable by 2030, and has made the decision to dump them.
The kiwi carrier had been aiming to slash its carbon intensity by 28.9 per cent compared to 2019 levels, through the use of sustainable aviation fuel, lower emissions aircraft and other changes.
However in a statement to the ASX, Air New Zealand said many of the levers needed to meet the target were outside of its control and remained “challenging”.
Which is corporate-speak for ‘it was all bullshit, all along’.
But never underestimate a cultist’s dedication to sticking to the narrative.
Chief executive Greg Foran said […] work had began to consider a new, near-term carbon emissions reduction target that could better reflect the challenges relating to aircraft and alternative jet fuel availability within the industry.
Last year, 600 million litres of sustainable aviation fuel was produced worldwide, which was more than double that of 2022, but still a mere 0.2 per cent of the airline industry’s needs.
Poor people in the developing world will have to starve so climate activists can fly with a clear climate conscience.
What, exactly, is this “sustainable aviation fuel”, you ask?
It’s so-called ‘biofuel’. Which means that more agricultural land has to be given over to growing crops for fuel rather than food. Suffice to say that the ‘biofuel’ industry’s ethical record, from land grabbing in Africa to threatening food supplies, is hardly stellar.
Still if poor people in the developing world have to starve so that the Izzy Cooks of the world can take their regular overseas holidays with a clear climate conscience, so be it.
In 2024, production was expected to triple to 1.875 billion litres or about 0.5 per cent of the total aviation fuel supply.
That’s a whole lot of farmland growing plane fuel instead of food.
Air New Zealand chair Dame Therese Walsh said the airline remained committed to its 2050 net zero carbon emissions target, which had been adopted by the broader aviation industry.
Until about 2045, when they admit that that was a whole lot of horseshit, too. Of course, Dame Therese will be long retired with her fat pension and never held to account.
Air New Zealand has previously been one of the most outspoken on sustainability issues, and was one of the first to announce plans to develop carbon neutral aircraft for regional routes in partnership with Airbus.
At last year’s CAPA aviation summit in Brisbane, chief sustainability officer Kiri Hannifin even challenged other airlines to consider if they were “worth the carbon”.
Oh, give it a rest, you fatuous bullshit-artists.
