On Thursday, 28 August, green think tank Transport & Environment (T&E) and environmental NGO Opportunity Green urged EU Member States to include aviation emissions other than CO2 [emissions] in their national climate plans before COP30 in Belém (Brazil) in November.
Indeed, the independent legal analysis they commissioned shows that countries that fail to do this are in breach of their commitments under the Paris Agreement. Not only does aviation currently represent around 2 to 3% of annual global CO2 emissions, but aircraft engines emit other gases, the most visible of which are contained in jet engine contrails, as well as particulate matter—which affect health and the climate. According to both organisations, these non-CO2 emissions are responsible for 1 to 2% of global warming. Furthermore, warming due to contrails is a highly concentrated problem, since less than 3% of global flights generated 80% of the warming due to gaseous emissions from contrails in 2019.
However, the two organisations pointed out, “mitigating these contrails and their effect can be done more quickly and cost-effectively than other climate issues.” In their opinion, slightly rerouting a small percentage of flights would be enough to reduce the effects of the gases contained in contrails and achieve short-term climate benefits.
Read the legal analysis: https://aeur.eu/f/i65 (Original version in French by Anne Damiani)