To the infinite and beyond: Airbus versus physics law
This leaflet is a summary of the thoughts and work of the Airbus CGT environment committee, made up of union members and elected representatives. This leaflet will be distributed in two parts. The second part will be available in one month.
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PART 1: FINDINGS
“We stop everything, we reflect and it’s not sad”*.
* Gébé, l’An01, Charlie Hebdo, 1970.
Cyclones, torrential rain, floods, droughts, heatwaves, warming oceans, erosion of biodiversity, depletion of soil, planetary boundaries exceeded…
Growth, unlimited energy and materials, satellite chains, AI, space tourism, sustainable development, greenwashing… Paris Agreements, 1.5°C of warming. Yes, but… By 2050… France at +4°C…
“Be reasonable. Be serious. Be confident in the future… Technology will save us… Our children, our grandchildren, will find a solution, until then, full speed ahead.
Keep your nose to the grindstone, keep up with the pace, the production rate, the plan.” Doubling the fleet despite the departure plans, then the recruitment plans, then the cost-cutting plans. Working more because there are fewer of us and we have to produce more. On the other hand, not being paid more means getting poorer because our wages don’t keep up with inflation. Working tax-free overtime…
All for what? For record dividends, for share prices, to see our hospitals and schools saturated and closed… All so that we can hit the wall sooner, head-on?
Be serious, open your eyes, put down your pen, your tool, your keyboard… Discuss it, all of us together.
Matter, energy, water, air, forests and soil are common goods. Define our priorities collectively. How can we do no harm, live, let live and allow life to continue?
Learn to see the links that underpin our economy, the slaves at the end of the chain, far from our eyes, in the mines, in the dumps… Their destroyed environment, disease, misery… Wars, geopolitical tensions due to our thirst for materials and energy.
We need to take responsibility as citizens and reinvent a way of life that is not based on destruction and human, animal and environmental suffering. Establish a real democracy. Let’s open the Airbus grievance books. What future do you want, what are you missing, what are your dreams, how do you want Airbus to be managed, do you want to take the lead or let yourself be guided?
Planetary boundaries, the Paris agreements and aeronautics…
Scientists have defined nine indicators corresponding to planetary boundaries: climate change, biodiversity, nitrogen and phosphorus cycles, land use, freshwater, biosphere, ocean acidification, ozone layer, aerosols in the atmosphere.
The first 6 of these boundaries are considered to have already been exceeded.
The IPCC documents and compiles scientific data on the causes of climate change (‘unambiguously of human origin’), its consequences and ways of reducing them.
Since the Paris agreements (COP 2015), a carbon budget has been defined, broken down by sector, to enable us to stay below the 2°C increase compared with the pre-industrial era.
We are all familiar with the oil sector and its mega-emitters (TotalEnergies, Shell, etc.), but Airbus, as the dominant aircraft manufacturer, is one of the few companies to have a global impact on the CO2 trajectory.
The carbon footprint is an offshoot of the Paris agreements, with the biggest items being transport, heating and meat consumption. A long-haul flight is equivalent to emitting 2 tonnes of CO2, or the average annual budget per French person if we are to meet the Paris agreements by 2050 (EU and France target: zero net emissions by 2050).
The official declaration of Airbus’ CO2 emissions is published in the non-financial report. It follows the Green House Gas Protocol (GHGP) standard (chapter 11, use of sold products). This declaration has been mandatory since this year, as specified in the CSRD (Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive), which stems from the European Green Deal. The CSRD requires that the quality of social and environmental information be of the same standard as that of financial information. The publication of erroneous or incomplete information may result in criminal and financial penalties. For example, the CSRD requires disclosure not only of its impact on the climate (GHG emissions), but also of the impact of climate change on its business model. In addition, it must publish its mitigation strategy and its alignment with the Paris agreements (Airbus has chosen to follow an SBTI commitment as an indicator). This forces the company to be transparent and allows potential buyers of Airbus products or investors to act in full knowledge of the facts.
Airbus takes a dim view of the CSRD directive and is lobbying for it to be ‘simplified’.
Greenhouse gas (GHG) emission scopes:
The use of emission scopes was initiated by the GHGP, which came into being in 1998. GHG emissions are defined by 3 scopes: scope 1 corresponds to direct emissions due to the company’s activities, scope 2 to indirect emissions resulting from the production of energy purchased and consumed by the company, and scope 3 covers the environmental impact of activities upstream and downstream of the company’s activity: products and services purchased, transport, logistics, GHGs from products sold (and therefore from our aircraft).
The Science Based Target Initiative (SBTi) process : the Airbus space-time tunnel!
Airbus has signed up to the SBTI process in order to comply with the Paris Agreement for the aerospace industry. This method obliges companies that sign up to it to follow a method, define a trajectory and show that it is being met year after year.
The SBTI trajectory only covers Airbus’ upstream scope 3, i.e. emissions from the airlines that use our products.
Aircraft use accounts for 97% of Airbus’ environmental impact.
Overall, the SBTi process incorporates two commitments: one at the end of the trajectory (2050 = zero net CO2 emissions), and one at the halfway point (e.g. 2035). The SBTi group has defined a method for the air transport sector (i.e. scope 1 for airlines), for a ‘well below 2 degree’ trajectory.
The method for a ‘1.5 degrees’ trajectory is currently being revised (more recent and more demanding interpretation of the Paris agreements). This method takes into account sector-specific assumptions set for the sector (carbon budget, sector average growth rate, SAF (Sustainable Aviation Fuels) deployment roadmap, etc.), and therefore defines a reference trajectory in km/global passenger, and a maximum CO2 budget. This trajectory implies a CO2 intensity per kilometre that must be maintained, depending on the number of km targeted by the airline (sector market share), in order not to exceed the budget. When SBTi validates an airline’s commitment, it means that with this intensity and the number of kilometres flown, the airline will respect a trajectory compatible with the overall sectoral trajectory compatible with the Paris agreements.
The Airbus SBTI engagements:
Scopes 1 & 2 objectives: -63% absolute greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 and neutralisation of residual emissions in line with a 1.5°C trajectory
Scope 3 objectives: -46% intensity of greenhouse gas emissions by 2035 in line with a ‘well-below 2°C’ trajectory (and therefore not on the trajectory below 1.5°C).
It is important to note that Airbus is using 2015 as its reference year, whereas the year defined by SBTi is 2019. The neo engine was introduced in 2016, which means that aircraft versions prior to the A320 neo, and therefore higher emitters, can be included in the basic emissions calculation. The calculation is therefore much more advantageous for Airbus in terms of its decarbonisation efforts.
Various levers are being taken into account to achieve this objective: efficiency improvements (aircraft or operations, etc.) and mainly the use of SAF (Sustainable Aviation Fuel).
Airbus has negotiated an adaptation of the airlines‘ SBTI commitment, with the idea that its scope 3 corresponds to the airlines’ scope 1. This approach has the advantage of corresponding to the reporting of CO2 from Airbus deliveries (Use of Sold Products GHG: USP). However, it creates an enormous time lag of 12.5 years, because the emissions calculated for an aircraft run from its delivery to its withdrawal from operations 25 years later. For example, the calculation of emissions for the year 2025 corresponds to those of a mixed fleet of aircraft acquired over 25 years, whereas for Airbus it is based on the assessment of emissions from neo aircraft delivered that year and over the following 25 years of operation. The actual emissions for 2025 correspond to Airbus SBTi calculations for 2012! Airbus’s stated objective is therefore not at all in line with airlines’ net-zero objective for 2050, and makes the latter impossible.
For airlines to be net-zero in 2050, Airbus must deliver a 100% net-zero fleet at least 12.5 years earlier, i.e. in 2037… Which shows that Airbus’s communication on the subject is insincere and even misleading…
A matter of choice…
Next: Part 2, the CGT’s analysis and our proposals:
A realistic strategy? Can the Airbus narrative be reconciled with scientific reality?
Anticipating the transition, starting now: faced with the risk of job destruction, diversification?
The doughnut theory: or how to combine an ecological ceiling with a social floor…
Towards a social security system for transition? An idea put forward by the CGT
What role for employees? Taking part in governance.
The sources of our articles are available here:
Planetary Boundaries, Paris Agreement, and Aeronautics…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planetary_boundaries
SBTi Process (Science Based Targets initiative): the Airbus Space-Time Tunnel!
https://sciencebasedtargets.org/resources/files/SBTi_AviationGuidanceAug2021.pdf
Airbus’s SBTi Commitments:
Scope 3: -46% reduction in greenhouse gas (GHG) emission intensity by 2035. The 46% GHG reduction is broken down as follows: 22% due to SAF (Sustainable Aviation Fuel), 24% due to product improvements (15% from the evolution of neo / ceo aircraft + 1% per year from overall aircraft improvements).
CGT Airbus Commercial Aircraft