Airlines create extra CO2 by 'fuel-tankering'
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The reading
An employee who works for British Airways (BA) has told newspapers about the company creating more CO2. The unnamed person is a whistleblower - someone who tells the truth about company secrets. The whistleblower said BA and many other airlines use "fuel-tankering" to save money. However, fuel-tankering is very bad for the environment. Scientists say it adds to global warming. Fuel-tankering is when airplanes store extra fuel to get to their destination and back. This means the airline saves money by paying for all the fuel in its home country instead of buying more expensive fuel at its destination. Scientists say fuel-tankering puts as much CO2 in the air each year as a large town.
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A documentary about British Airways and fuel-tankering was shown on the BBC this week. In the documentary, the CEO of BA promised to look again at how it carries fuel. He said the airline uses the fuel-tankering method and said it was "maybe the wrong thing to do". The money saved by fuel-tankering for each flight is very small, but there is a big cost to the environment. A recent flight from London to Italy had three tons of extra fuel. The airline saved just $50 on the flight but an extra 600kg of CO2 was put into the atmosphere. Greenpeace said this was a "classic example of a company putting profit before planet". It said: "They'll happily pour extra fuel on the fire for a small boost to their profit margin."
Sources:
- https://www.theguardian.com/business/2019/nov/11/ba-to-review-fuel-tankering-after-panorama-revelations
- https://www.independent.co.uk/travel/news-and-advice/british-airways-carbon-dioxide-panorama-fuel-tankering-greenhouse-gas-flights-a9195701.html
- https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-50365362
