Abstract
The clean energy transition is an important and urgent issue in European islands contributing in the global effort for climate change mitigation. Island of Crete, Greece is a popular tourist destination while the most of visitors arrive and depart with aircrafts. Aim of the current study is to investigate the possibility of de-carbonizing the air-transportation to and from Crete. Air-transportation has a share at 10.62% in the total carbon emissions in the island while other studies have estimated higher values. This is higher than the estimated share of carbon emissions in aviation at 2-3% of the overall carbon emissions worldwide. Various technological and non-technological approaches for de-carbonizing aviation are examined including improvements in aircraft’s standards, use of sustainable aviation fuels, offsetting carbon emissions and developing new policies discouraging the frequent use of air travelling. The feasibility and the impacts of these methods are mentioned indicating that de-carbonization is difficult in the short and medium term. Production of sustainable aviation fuels including bio-fuels and electro-fuels in the required quantities and in competitive prices is not foreseen soon. Developing new policies that increase the cost of air travelling and promote alternative sustainable modes in transportation will have undesired impacts in the island’s tourism industry. On the contrary de-carbonization in other socio-economic sectors in Crete comprising electricity generation, production of heat and cooling and transportation inside the island is easier than in air-transportation.
Highlights
Climate change is the major global environmental problem days while its mitigation is necessary and urgent
Current study indicates that de-carbonizing air-transportation to and from Crete is more difficult compared with de-carbonization in other socio-economic sectors in the island
Zografakis, Region of Crete, 2020). They have indicated that energy consumption in air-transportation to and from Crete has a share at 29.15% in the total energy consumption in the island the carbon emissions due to air transportation have a share at 10.61% in the total carbon emissions corresponding at 1.76 tnCO2 per capita that is less than 50% of the emissions estimated in the previous study
Summary
Climate change is the major global environmental problem days while its mitigation is necessary and urgent. De-carbonization of various socio-economic sectors can be achieved using different technologies and fuels while the clean energy transition in EU islands is a challenging issue. De-carbonization of air-transportation to and from Crete is necessary for compliance with the EU target regarding future climate neutrality. Zeroing carbon emissions in air-transportation to and from Crete is important for National authorities since it will indicate the required policy measures for achieving the abovementioned goal. It is important for aviation companies and aircraft’s manufacturers regarding the necessary technological changes and the possibilities of producing and using sustainable aviation fuels (SAFs). Current study indicates that de-carbonizing air-transportation to and from Crete is more difficult compared with de-carbonization in other socio-economic sectors in the island
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