How much does air travel warm the planet?
Airplanes emit around 100 times more CO2 than a shared bus or train ride, and the emissions of global aviation are around 1 billion tonnes of CO2 per year - more than the emissions of most countries, including Germany. Aviation contributes an estimated 2.4 per cent of global annual CO2 emissions, most of it from commercial travel. In a recent study published in the journal Environmental Research Letters, Klöwer and his colleagues calculated that aviation contributes around 4 per cent to human-induced global warming and is projected to cause about 0.1° Celsius (0.2° Fahrenheit) of warming by 2050 if aviation continues growing at pre-pandemic rates. In 2018, there were 4.3 billion passenger journeys recorded. The Covid-19 pandemic halted global travel and reduced aviation by 45 per cent in 2020, but CO2 emissions persist for hundreds of years, so all emissions from all past flights are still at play. Recent disruptions may have slowed warming by about five years, Klöwer said, but they’re not all that significant to aviation’s overall climate impacts.