Boeing, Honeywell UOP and Masdar Institute have today announced they will be undertaking in-depth study into halophytes as potential sources of second-generation biofuels. These grasses can grow in very arid land and salt water and are not a food source. Preliminary investigations have shown that they can provide a lot of oil per hectare of land used, so could be a potentially lucrative source of fuels. We had Darrin Morgan, Boeing's director of biofuels at the Greener Skies event today and he spoke with us before his presentation...

Air New Zealand CEO Rob Fyfe made a few pointed comments at the Greener Skies lunch. The video is in three parts and a text copy of his speech is available here:

Cathay Pacific chief Tony Tyler talks to us about the industry targets, how we are going to get there and the recent news about new arrivals procedures at Hong Kong Airport.

We spoke to Rob a few minutes before his lunch address (which we will be uploading shortly). He filled us in on the biofuels trial Air New Zealand undertook, the technology and retrofits they are using to reduce emissions.

We spoke to Paul Steele, Executive Director at the Air Transport Action Group, about the industry's new targets.

Andy Herdman, Director General of the Association of Asia Pacific Airlines talks to us about some of the political processes underway as we march towards the COP15 meeting in Copenhagen.

The Director General of IATA, Giovanni Bisignani, sent a message to the Greener Skies conference by video link.

“Aviation is unique among industries. When it comes to environment, no other global industry is as united ambitious or determined. Our message to governments at ICAO is simple. We need a global sectoral approach to reducing aviation emissions. And governments should incorporate our industry targets as part of their solution. Working together, with ICAO, aviation will be a role model for industry cooperation with the UN in driving important change.”

Tony Tyler gave the keynote address this morning. The full text can be found here. He talks about the potential outcomes for aviation at the Copenhagen conference in December:

"So, what of Copenhagen itself and the outcome of this two-week meeting of national governments, business and NGOs?

Well, the first job we’ll have to do is to cut through the hype and political ballyhoo that will that will turn Copenhagen into Sound Bite City for a fortnight in December.

At the end of it all, I see the possibility of three very different scenarios, each with its own impact, good and bad.

Scenario 1 is what we’d all like to see - a landmark moment for aviation with a global sectoral approach for tackling emissions agreed by the UNFCCC, with ICAO’s role in leading the industry preserved. As a result, aviation pays once and once only for its emissions with regional schemes such as the EU ETS scaled back, and taxes such as APD stripped of their phoney environmental veneers.

Scenario 2 is what I call the ‘quick fix’.  It’s based on the notion that, having failed to deliver anything meaningful at Copenhagen the parties agree that a global air transport levy represents an easy way to deal with the aviation emissions problem.  At the same time, the idea of a global sectoral approach is rejected and further regional or national schemes emerge. Moreover, ICAO loses its emissions management role.

I think I have already pointed out why that is a nightmare scenario– one we definitely don’t want to see emerge from December’s talks.

The third scenario represents, well, nothing at all being achieved - political gridlock.  If there is no firm agreement at Copenhagen, it could pave the way for more nation states to impose their own arbitrary emissions targets on aviation and lead to the emergence of more regional trading schemes or taxes in an attempt to drive down emissions. 

None of us need reminding that such a scenario would add considerable cost and complexity to an already struggling industry."

The press release from Cathay Pacific can be found here. The full text of Tylers speech is here. We will be interviewing him later on today.

We interviewed Andrea after she finished speaking at Greener Skies. Her presentation focused on some of the areas that people often forget in the environmental debate - the benefits that aviation brings to people around the world and importantly in developing nations. The report, called Aviation: The Real World Wide Web is available online through Oxford Economics.