All passenger flights that departed from Europe last year together emitted as much CO2 as 80 million petrol cars in a year. But airlines had to pay for less than a quarter of those emissions through emissions trading systems. The NGO Transport & Environment, which fights for more environmentally friendly transport, complains about this in a new report.
Friday, April 19, 2024 at 11:44 AM
According to the study, Irish low-cost airline Ryanair was the largest CO2 emitter among airlines in Europe for the third year in a row in 2023, followed by Germany’s Lufthansa and British Airways British Airways. Ryanair pays for more than half of its emissions through emissions trading, while traditional airlines usually pay for less than a fifth.
If emissions trading had been applied to all 6.7 million passenger flights that departed from European airports last year, airlines would have had to pay around 13 billion euros for their CO2 emissions at average prices. But in practice they paid just under 3 billion euros. This is because the emissions trading system, for example, only applies to flights within Europe, while long-distance flights cause more than half of all emissions, and because Member States hand out many emission rights to companies for free.
“More than a decade after the CO2 market was introduced to aviation, the system still falls short when it comes to encouraging more environmentally friendly flying,” said Jo Dardenne, aviation director at Transport & Environment.
The NGO calls for emissions trading to be applied to all flights from European airports – including flights outside Europe. She also advocates a kerosene tax, replacing short-distance flights with train connections, and monitoring emissions other than just CO2, because they “warm the planet at least as much as CO2”. “Passengers pay more for their coffee at the airport than some airlines pay for their emissions,” it said.
