Decarbonising Aviation – Time for Effective Action at COP26
Removing climate-harming emissions from aviation
If you are new to the greenhouse gas and future of aviation debate, you may find this glossary useful.
Aviation is responsible for about 2.4% of the world’s CO2 emissions and 3.5% of human-induced climate change when other greenhouse gases and contrails are accounted for. In March 2020, the respected German consultancy Roland Berger forecast that if other industries decarbonise in line with current projections, aviation could account for up to 24% of global emissions by 2050 unless there is a significant technological shift.
Carbon dioxide emitted now will contribute to climate change – sea-level rise, flooding, drought, and storms – for many decades. Delaying real emission reductions is irresponsible. Electors and policy-makers will most likely press for rapid change as the aviation sector’s failure to reduce its emissions while most other sectors lower their emissions now becomes evident to all.
Shortage of time and limitations of data at the third meeting of the UNFCCC’s Conference of the Parties (COP3) in 1997 resulted in international aviation being omitted from individual countries’ carbon budgets and being dealt with through the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO). In June 2020, Climate Action Tracker, an independent scientific analysis that follows government climate action and measures it against the Paris Agreement, found that current measures for international aviation are “Critically Insufficient”, compatible only with a 4°C+ world.