Low Hanging Fruit for Airlines to reduce Global warming

Global warming is a major concern for humanity and could turn out to be a catastrophe if not addressed collectively and carefully. Every small contribution can go a long way in positively contributing toward preserving the environment for future generations.

The Context

Recently, I was traveling from New Delhi, India to San Francisco, US in business class via Tokyo. This journey was covered in two legs - New Delhi to Tokyo and Tokyo to San Francisco, on two different very reputed international Airlines. The complete journey was very enjoyable, airline staff was cooperative, aircraft was well maintained, seats were comfortable and the entertainment system was fully loaded.

The only downside was the experience with meals on both airlines. It was nothing to do with the quality or hygiene of the meals, but more related to the policy of airlines in terms of serving veg and non-veg meals. Being vegetarian, our travel agent had pre-booked veg meal but as per the airline staff, they had not received such a request. This could have been because of several reasons, maybe an error by the Travel agent or the Airline, or a technical problem in software, but the bottom line was that they had not received the request.

Final outcome was that the airline could not serve us a proper meal. While the airline staff tried to do their best by enquiring if some leftover availability in economy class and providing with some croissant etc but the fact was that proper meal could not be served. As well-known, the problem with Vegetarians is that they cannot have non-veg food, while non-vegetarians can have Veg food for a change.

The larger picture

Global warming is a major concern for humanity and could turn out to be a catastrophe if not addressed collectively and carefully. There are many things that are responsible for the release of greenhouse gases leading to climate change. However, one of the less talked about aspects is Meat consumption, which is responsible for releasing greenhouse gases such as methane, CO2, and nitrous oxide, directly contributing to climate change and global warming.

Animals also produce substantial amounts of methane in their digestive systems, which is a powerful greenhouse gas. As per many publications, the carbon footprint of beef and lamb is roughly three times that of pork, poultry, or farmed fish per 100g of protein and 24 times higher than pulses such as beans and lentils.

Research led by Oxford Martin School has found widespread adoption of a vegetarian diet would cut food-related emissions by 63% and make people healthier too. Growing food for the world’s burgeoning population is likely to send greenhouse gas emissions over the threshold of safety unless more is done to cut meat consumption, a new report has found.

The research led by scientists at the Oxford Martin School found that shifting to a mostly vegetarian diet, or even simply cutting down meat consumption to within accepted health guidelines, would make a large dent in greenhouse gases.

According to this study, just adhering to health guidelines on meat consumption could cut global food-related emissions by nearly 33% by 2050. At the same time, widespread adoption of a vegetarian diet could bring down emissions by 63%.

There are many other studies from various reputed organizations available, with similar findings. Keeping in view the possibility of such a catastrophe, any small contribution by every entity to reduce emissions will go a long way in helping the cause.

Suggestion

Can airlines force all passengers to have only vegetarian food on flights? Yes, but slightly far-fetched and may face resistance from many corners.

What is immediately implementable without much discontentment, is the following –

Currently, all airlines are serving non-Veg meals for all passengers and Veg meals for those who make an advance request/ pre-booking. Just reversing this can make huge savings in carbon emission as well as costs for the airlines. That means everyone gets Veg meals on airlines unless one prebooks a non-veg meal.

This will also ensure that when I am traveling next time, I don’t go without a meal 😊

Just by this small change in the policy, every airline may be able to save costs, earn additional carbon credits, be more ESG compliant and positively contribute to the cause of climate change.

So, the simple suggestion to all Airlines is –

Serve Veg food to all passengers and non-veg to only those who make an advance request/ pre-booking.

Any takers?