Opinion: Aviation doesn’t have an emissions problem – it has a power problem
March 29, 2026
George Hibberd is a former airline pilot and co-founder of Safe Landing: a global community of aviation workers, students and enthusiasts who care about the future of our industry and our planet. George is Worker Participation lead at Safe Landing, advocating for and performing Workers’ Assemblies.
Aviation doesn’t have an emissions problem. Controversial though it may sound, I believe that aviation’s disproportionately high impact on our climate is not caused by the emission of carbon and greenhouse gases. Rather, I believe that aviation has a power problem, i.e. who makes decisions on behalf of workers.
As pilots, we know that in the pre-flight brief we can’t just think about the take-off and cruise; we also have to plan ahead for the landing, perhaps taking more fuel in case we have to land at an alternate due to weather or an emergency. That same holistic thinking needs to be utilised in how we plan for the long-term future of the aviation industry.
Short-term thinking is driving conventional airport and airline expansion based on fossil fuels, and aviation emissions are rising as a result. Aviation is on track to become the most polluting industry in the UK before 2040, because while other sectors are decarbonising, aviation emissions will remain stable or even increase.
The argument goes that expansion of the industry can only ever be a good thing for jobs and securing long-term prosperity. But is that always true?
Aviation workers must shape the future of sustainable aviation
Aviation workers need a say in the direction of flight of our industry. After all, it is workers who will face the consequences of whether or not our industry decarbonises in time to slow climate breakdown or to avoid panicked climate legislation in years to come.
Aviation workers have a wealth of experience and knowledge to bring to the table. We also have so much to gain by giving workers a voice and having tough conversations about the future of the industry we love.
In 2020, I co-founded a community of aviation workers called Safe Landing. We want aviation to flourish in harmony with nature and preserve our industry for the long-term. Part of our work involves giving aviation workers a voice in how our industry transforms in the coming years to tackle climate change.
Workers’ assemblies: Reshaping aviation’s path to net zero
One way we can give workers more agency is through Workers’ Assemblies, a form of deliberative and participatory democracy based on the highly successful Citizens’ Assembly model. Such assemblies have been used to tackle some of the biggest topics of our time that conventional politics and decision-making have failed to address, for example, abortion laws in Ireland.
They bring together a representative group of usually around 100 people who hear from experts on a topic, deliberate and then make decisions to guide government policy. A Workers’ Assembly is the same concept, but selects participants from a particular industry or union to focus on their sector.
BALPA’s own environmental study group has asked BALPA’s National Executive Council to commission a Climate Forum, a form of assembly, for its membership to give pilots a voice and guide our union’s long-term flightpath.
In Safe Landing, we hold our own assemblies to popularise the assembly concept from the grassroots up. We held our first assembly in 2023 for aerospace engineers in Bristol. It was extremely successful, but it was clear coming out of that that the industry lacks a credible, positive, worker-led vision for the future of aviation.
So, on 13 September 2025, Safe Landing held another assembly where aviation workers from across the industry came together in London to co-create this positive, worker-led vision for the future of sustainable aviation. We named it a Visioning Assembly.
We wanted to create a vision of what aviation looks like in 2050 if our industry gets this right, something exciting to inspire and guide us as aviation workers.
Over 80 aviation workers applied for the Visioning Assembly, and 26 were selected to represent a diversity of job roles, gender, ethnicity, age and views on climate change.
Participants were taken through a number of exercises to highlight where their power lies, who our industry is responsible for, and our opportunities and barriers to moving towards a sustainable future. They took part in role plays, putting themselves in the shoes of different stakeholders in the industry to understand their goals and trade-offs.
Finally, they co-created a vision for the future of aviation covering five key aspects: social responsibility, financial, technical, political and environmental.
The aviation worker-led vision for sustainability by 2050
Social responsibility
Participants envisioned that sustainability is integrated into every aspect of aviation, including technology, operations and education, rather than being an add-on. The industry has taken responsibility for past and present emissions, ensures community health around airports, and is part of a broader, multimodal transport system.
Economics and financial
Industry growth, if any, is responsible and sustainable, balancing economic expansion with environmental impact. More quality jobs and market opportunities have been created, with government and industry investment accelerating sustainable technological development. Investment has been funded fairly and equitably by taxing wealth and/or implementing progressive aviation tax policies, such as carbon pricing or a frequent flyer levy.
Technical
Aircraft have been radically redesigned for greater efficiency and reduced environmental impact, integrating new energy sources like hydrogen and hybrid power systems, and improving operational practices such as free-routing and modifying flightpaths for contrail avoidance.
Political
Politics in aviation has a focus on sustainability, representation and proactive policymaking. Sustainability is a central, non-partisan issue driving international collaboration. There is fair representation across age, gender, ethnicity and social class in decision-making, through mechanisms like citizens’ assemblies to enable long-term planning and investment.
Environmental
Environmental impacts such as noise, air pollution and damage to biodiversity have been minimised, rather than greenwashing.
This positive, worker-led vision will now be exhibited at political party conferences, sustainability events and shared with politicians, trade unions and industry leaders.
The assembly proved that when workers are given a collective voice, we can plan for the long term, making decisions that protect both our jobs and the planet, preserving the industry for generations to come.
To read the full vision, find out more about the Visioning Assembly and join the Safe Landing community, head to safe-landing.org.
