As the post-COP emissions pledges are published, thoughts inevitably turn to how they will (read can) be achieved. For it is not an easy road that lies ahead. Debate continues to rage around proposals including carbon sequester, solar and wind energy, higher taxes on fossil fuels as well as carbon trading.

At present, there is no fail-safe solution for cutting emissions by the levels required to prevent global warming. Yet biding time until political and business consensus is achieved only makes the target more difficult, and the problem more complex.

While debate continues therefore, we should be focusing on immediate solutions that will create reductions in the short term and help us stay on course while more far reaching proposals are hammered out.

One such "low-hanging fruit" could potentially lie with the airlines. A study published by Oxford University has found that emissions could be cut by up to 95% simply by instituting better flight management procedures.

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Better air-traffic control could significantly reduce the amount of time planes spend waiting to take off, hovering above airports waiting to land and the length of routes taken.

Dr Carey, aviation expert at Oxford's Smith School of Enterprise and the Environment, states "the inaccuracy of current control systems means planes must be given a wide berth to avoid collisions.”

"If that was improved, landing and take-offs could be quicker, stacking would be reduced and planes could fly closer together by taking advantage of prevailing winds, just as Concorde did."

He additionally argues that if we are serious about reducing carbon emissions then we need to update aviation technology immediately. And it is something that could also be achieved relatively cheaply.

It is the re-examination of current approaches, such as this, which suggest that we need to take a closer look at the current way we do things and how they could be improved.

In advance of implementing unproven and expensive technologies we should consider addressing our current means of doing things. We don't necessarily have to reinvent the wheel.