Aviation growth to off-set EU Kyoto emission savings
A new EU report shows that if the existing growth of aviation is maintained, the result will be a 150% increase in emissions from international flights from within the EU by 2012.
carbon-info.org
If the current growth is maintained, air travel will become a significant contributor to global warming. While the EU commission accepted that 70% fuel efficiency had been achieved, this had been more than offset by an increase in departures in the same period.
The EU will therefore have to decide to tax aviation fuel as one way of curbing growth. The air line companies have lobbied strongly against this and so far the EU and UK government has stopped short of applying economical pressure to curb growth.
If the growth is left unchanged, the aviation industry will undermine the effort of the EU to achieve its emission targets under the Kyoto Agreement. While the EU's emissions fell by 5.5% between 1990 and 2003, the growth in international air travel lead to an annual growth of just under 4.5%.
It is therefore likely that aviation will be included in any new Kyoto Agreement after 2012, which is one of the recommendations put forward by the commissions report.
Destination Sydney
Cost per passenger in CO2 emissions:
11,200 Kg CO2
Destination New York
Cost per passenger in CO2 emissions:
3,900 Kg CO2
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