Sanjay Singh / New Delhi
In a bid to minimise air pollution and keep the sky clean, various stakeholders at the Centre, which includes Ministry of Civil Aviation, Directorate of Civil Aviation (DGCA), Petroleum Ministry, airlines, and other aviation related agencies have initiated talks to implement `green aviation policy’ that will ensure airlines and other stakeholders in the civil aviation industry to use modern, less noisy and more fuel efficient aircraft.
The development comes in after the government in March this year came up with the white paper titled ‘National Green Aviation Policy’, which suggested that airlines use modern, less noisy and more fuel efficient aircraft.The policy, has however not mentioned any proposal to tax on carbon emissions by pollutants.
The white paper is crucial for ensuring the pace at which India’s aviation sector is growing. India’s domestic aviation market today is one of the fastestgrowing sector globally and is projected to take over as world’s third largest air passenger market by year 2029.
The White Paper also said the civil aviation regulator, the DGCA should work with the Petroleum Ministry and other private stakeholders to encourage and facilitate availability of boil-jet fuel and make it commercial available. The green aviation policy proposes that the DGCA must assess and understand emissions from all aviation related sources and as to how much to they contribute to local air quality.
The government on March 14 sought for views on a set of proposals which is aimed towards minimising air pollution at airports and India’s air space.
The white paper also pointed out that efforts should be made to minimise air pollution at all new and upcoming airports and must have clean energy generation projects at these sites.
According to the white paper, the DGCA should work with the petroleum ministry and private agencies to facilitate availability of commercially viable bio jet fuels.“All aviation stakeholders shall also explore possibilities of use of bio-fuel and other alternate fuels with lower emissions for ground vehicle application,” says the white paper on National Green Aviation Policy.
The policy also pointed out that aviation companies must adopt green building plansand chose sustainable areas and sites for existing and new airports.
The civil aviation ministry will create a simplified regulatory regime to speed up clearances for airport development and other aviation projects while taking due care of environment sustainability, the white paper said. “DGCA will work with aviation stakeholders and other government authorities with framework to adopt measures to reduce emissions in all areas — aircraft, ground support, airport infrastructure and landside access traffic,” the report points out.
