Lawmakers Seek Comprehensive Overview of Green Efforts

Three U.S. House members are striving to take a more comprehensive overview of the myriad sustainability initiatives in the aviation sector, introducing a bill yesterday that calls for a database to track such efforts and a report on the overall efforts. The National Evaluation of Aviation and Aerospace Solutions to Climate Change Act, H.R.5977, would direct the Department of Transportation and the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine to study climate change mitigation efforts within civil aviation and aerospace, develop an assessment of the effectiveness of those efforts, identify barriers, and develop recommendations.

Introduced by House aviation subcommittee chair Rick Larsen (D-Washington), along with vice-chair Sharice Davids (D-Kansas) and Rep. Kim Schrier (D-Washington), H.R.5977 would require the agencies to submit a report on the findings.

“Airlines are working to develop greener technologies and reach net-zero emissions, but there is much more work to be done,” Larsen said.” This bill will help catalog those efforts, identify barriers to the adoption of mitigation efforts, and serve as a roadmap for the steps the aviation and aerospace sector must take to achieve a 100 percent clean economy by 2050.”

“While the aerospace industry has undergone efforts to increase efficiency and address the impacts of climate change, it’s important Congress has a clear understanding of those efforts and their effectiveness,” added Davids.