Aviation is responsible for almost 1Gt of CO2 emissions, or 2.5% of global emissions. Up to 4% when accounting for non-CO2 climate warming effects. And demand is only going up: 3-4% year-on-year.
Aviation is also notoriously hard to decarbonise: most hope is placed on sustainable aviation fuels (SAF). Given there will always be considerable residual emissions (ICAO: 200Mt-950Mt in 2050), carbon removal is central to aviation’s net-zero aspiration for 2050.
From a policy perspective, it is incredibly challenging to regulate, as 61% of aviation emissions are emitted on international flights and only 39% within a single country’s boundaries.
A promising solution is emission trading systems for domestic/regional emissions (think EU ETS) and CORSIA for international emissions.
Sounds easy? The reality is incredibly complex, messy, and potentially worrying.
Listen in to hear Eve Tamme and Sebastian Manhart unpack this topic and provide clear solutions for what could be done in future.
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