Adding Insult to Injury: Airline Industry Linked to Global Warming
Pollution caused by aircraft enter the ozone layer a lot faster than cars making it more damaging to the environment, according to facts revealed Tuesday.
Citing the Inter-Governmental Panel on Climate Change, Reuters said aviation causes 3.5 percent of “man-made global warming.” This figure is forecast to spike to 15 percent by 2050.
Pollutants emitted by an aircraft include carbon dioxide, water vapor and nitrous oxides. It was also revealed that some 16,000 commercial aircraft pump out 600 million tons of carbon dioxide every year, consuming some 190 billion liters of jet fuel.
In light of these latest revelations, the EU executive Commission on Tuesday proposed that aircraft taking off from European Union airports are to join the bloc´s emissions trading scheme to cut greenhouse gases, which are blamed for damaging the environment.
The aviation sector within Europe produces about 100 million tons of carbon dioxide annually. The European Union aims to halve carbon dioxide emissions from aircraft by 2020.
The International Air Transport Association (IATA) has said aircraft fuel efficiency has improved by 17 percent between 1990 and 2000. The airline organization also projected that aircraft emissions will decline by about 300 million tons of 10 percent by 2010 because of additional improvement.