Royal Aeronautical Society report on public attitudes on decarbonisation

Ipsos UK was commissioned to carry out a survey of over 2000 UK adults aged 16-75, asking questions relating to the impacts of decarbonising aviation. The survey yielded insights into how the public perceive the probable paths to achieving Net Zero in aviation, and their impact on the flying customer. The report highlights key findings around how the public feels about decarbonising aviation. 

Dr Naomi Allen CEng MRAeS, Head of Research said: “This research has helped our understanding as to what the public thinks about some of the fuels, technologies and operational measures that may be introduced in the coming decades to achieve sustainable aviation. The insights will be invaluable in improving our understanding of what the public will deem acceptable, and how to communicate our aviation net zero goals more clearly.”

RAeS Chief Executive, David Edwards said: “Decarbonisation is a high priority for the sector, and many of those employed in aerospace are working directly or indirectly towards this goal. Developing our understanding around airline passengers’ behaviour in this area will support our efforts for sustainable aviation. This report provides a benchmark of current thinking and aid future planning efforts around decarbonisation.”

Key findings

• When shown a list of ten areas and asked to rate their level of concern with each, 75% of respondents consider themselves to be concerned about climate change.
• Air transport is viewed as producing greater carbon emissions than other forms of transport (road, rail and sea), with 58% selecting ‘to a great extent’ when asked the extent to which they think air travel produces carbon emissions which contribute to climate change.
• The respondents appear to believe that it will also be the hardest form of transport to decarbonise, with 69% rating it as difficult when asked the extent to which they think it will be easy or difficult to reduce carbon emissions from air travel between now and 2050.
• Only a minority (38%) of respondents say they would be willing(3) to pay more to reduce the carbon emissions produced by their flight.
• Around half of the respondents are willing to have their comfort or convenience impacted in various ways in order to reduce the carbon emissions of their flight.
• Over half (57%) of the respondents say they would be willing to use an alternative form of transport in order to reduce carbon emissions produced by their flight.
• There is more support than opposition to a frequent flyer tax, and also overall support to a lesser degree for increased taxation of aviation when the money raised is invested in decarbonising air travel. However, there is net opposition to increased taxation of airfares used for general government spending.
• 80% of those surveyed trust the aircraft manufacturing industry and regulators to ensure continued safety standards while introducing new technologies to decarbonise air travel. They appear to be less confident in the industry ensuring that new technologies will not have a negative impact on comfort, reliability and environmental noise levels.
• The survey respondents generally view SAF as creating fewer carbon emissions than fossil fuels but do not tend to distinguish between the relative sustainability of fuels derived from waste, plants and renewables (ie, Power-to-Liquid SAF).
• Almost half of respondents viewed continued burning of fossil fuels, offset through carbon capture to be on the acceptable end of the scale as a means of reaching Net Zero.
• Only just over a third (36%) of people view current airline carbon offsetting schemes as having a positive impact on the environment.
• When asked about the emissions reduction that could be achieved through the use of SAF, 43% of respondents underestimated the emissions reduction, compared with only 11% who overestimated the benefit.

Download the full report.