![]() ![]() In the last two decades, carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from commercial aviation worldwide grew at a slower pace than the growth of the industry, but emissions from aviation have accelerated in recent years as increasing commercial air traffic continued to raise the industry’s contribution to global emissions. While our collective use of automobiles, our production of electricity, and the industrial and agricultural sectors each exceed the climate change impact of commercial aviation, passenger air travel was producing the highest and fastest growth of individual emissions before the pandemic, despite a significant improvement in efficiency of aircraft and flight operations over the last 60 years.īetween 19 in the United States, engine and design technology advances, improvements in air traffic operations, denser seat configurations, and higher passenger loads together reduced the energy intensity of air travel, expressed as British Thermal Units (BTUs) per passenger mile, by 77 percent. The “hypermobility” of air travel is available to greater numbers of people worldwide, with rapid growth in aviation projected for developing nations and sustained growth in the large established aviation markets of developed countries. By 2019, the total annual world-wide passenger count was 4.56 billion. In 1960, 100 million passengers traveled by air, at the time a relatively expensive mode of transportation available only to a small fraction of the public. Subsequent briefs will feature the aviation industry’s emission mitigation efforts and commitments to reduce its contribution to climate change, as well as the effects of a warming planet on industry operations. This issue brief examines the impact the growth of air travel and freight will have on greenhouse gas emissions. Revised in June 2022 (originally published in October 2019) ![]() See our related article series on sustainable aviation fuels Environment & Energy Congressional Round-Up.House and Senate Renewable Energy & Energy Efficiency Caucuses.Congressional Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency EXPO.National Security and Energy Independence. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |