Aviation is an important flagship sector in the climate crisis because of its societal role in connecting people across the globe and its huge per-capita climate impact. The carbon footprint of each flight someone takes is massive, especially for those who fly business or first class or those who take private jets.
Emissions from aviation have grown faster than for any other form of transportation in recent decades. Despite the temporary dip during the lockdowns and restrictions that accompanied the COVID-19 crisis, emissions from the sector are again close to pre-pandemic levels.
This is a manifestation of the inadequacy of global efforts to control aviation emissions. The main tool for tackling the sector’s carbon footprint is the Carbon Offsetting and Reduction Scheme for International Aviation (CORSIA), run by the UN’s International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO), as part of its so-called carbon-neutral growth target.
However, this scheme is fundamentally flawed because it only deals with the growth in aviation emissions and it requires airlines only to offset some of the greenhouse gases they pump into the atmosphere rather than reduce them.
When it comes to international aviation, Carbon Market Watch focuses on:
Climate change requires turning up the heat on aviation
Climate change requires turning up the heat on aviation
Binding emissions reduction targets for airlines that are in line with the Paris Agreement
Raising the climate ambitions of airlines
Including aviation in domestic, regional and United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) policies
The creation of a global cap-and-trade emissions trading scheme for airlines
Space has become the final frontier for tourism. But is it responsible during a climate crisis for the super-rich to play billionauts and boldly go
CO2 and non-CO2 emissions caused by flying aren’t simply lost in the clouds. There are actions policymakers and airlines can take today to alleviate aviation’s
Carbon Market Watch gives specific feedback to rules considering a Monitoring, Reporting, and Verification (MRV) system for non-CO2 aviation effects, and deplores the serious weakening of the commitments compared to earlier rules.
International aviation emissions reached 80% of their pre-pandemic peak in 2022
sam.vandenplas[at]carbonmarketwatch.org
eleanor.scott[at]carbonmarketwatch.org
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