In an effort to combat climate change, Google is now helping pilots route flights in order to reduce the amount of contrails they produce. Contrails—the long white streaks of condensed water vapor left behind by aircraft—have been linked to climate change due to their high levels of carbon dioxide and part of the greening of the aviation sector.
Google’s new Flight PATH initiative relies on its powerful AI algorithms to crunch data from air traffic control, aircraft databases, and weather forecasts. This data is used to create flight paths that are optimized for emitting less contrails. Google plans to make this data available to airlines so that they can incorporate it into their flight plans.
The goal of the Flight PATH initiative is to reduce the amount of contrails in the sky and to eventually reduce their climate impacts. Contrail clouds are particularly problematic when they form in high concentrations of air traffic on certain routes—so much so that they can lead to a “heat island” effect if they linger in the atmosphere. This warming can have a long-term impact on the local climate.
In addition to helping airlines route flights more efficiently, Google is also aiming to reduce the number of flights itself. Google Flights, the company’s booking service, is offering customers the option to offset their carbon emissions from their flights by investing in carbon-reduction technologies. This is part of Google’s commitment to achieving a net-zero carbon footprint by the end of this decade.
Google’s commitment to reducing the climate impact of aviation is commendable and has the potential to have a positive effect on the global climate. Reducing contrails from aircraft is an important piece of the puzzle, and with Google’s help, airlines can do their part to help the environment. If more airlines adopt Google’s Flight PATH, then the global fight against climate change can take another step in the right direction.