CO₂ Emissions From Commercial Aviation: 2013, 2018, and 2019

The authors update their previous working paper, detailing a worldwide, transparent, and geographically allocated carbon dioxide (CO₂) inventory for three years (2013, 2018, and 2019) of commercial aviation. The authors estimate, for the first time, emissions and carbon intensity per passenger by both seating class and aircraft class. While results show that passenger operations worldwide are becoming more fuel-efficient, this change is not keeping pace with the growth in aviation traffic. Commercial aviation traffic has increased almost four times faster than efficiency in fuel consumption, and passenger aircraft CO₂ emissions increased by a third between 2013 and 2019. Also, the large share of emissions from premium seating indicates that carbon pricing for aviation could be improved and made more equitable by reflecting the emissions increase from passengers in first class and business class. The authors offer some key findings: CO₂ emissions from all commercial operations in 2019 increased by 29% since 2013, and 85% of emissions come from passenger transportation. On average, passenger aviation emitted 90 grams of CO₂ per passenger-kilometer in 2019, a decrease of 2% from 2018 and of 12% from 2013, so airlines remain on track to meet their goal of improving fuel efficiency by 2% per year for international flights. The three largest passenger markets in 2019 were the United States (23% of CO₂), the European Union (19%)of CO₂), and China (13% pf CO₂). Together, these countries account for more than half of the world’s CO₂ emissions from passenger transportation. 19% of CO₂ from commercial aviation in 2019 was linked to passenger movement in premium seating (first and business classes), higher than the share from air freight. A passenger in premium class emitted 2.6 to 4.3 times more CO₂ per kilometer than a passenger in economy class, depending on aircraft class.

• Record URL:
  https://theicct.org/sites/default/files/publications/CO2-commercial-aviation-oct2020.pdf
• 
• Summary URL:
  https://theicct.org/publications/co2-emissions-commercial-aviation-2020
• Corporate Authors:

  International Council on Clean Transportation (ICCT)

  1500 K Street NW, Suite 650
  Washington, DC  United States  20005

  Aspen Global Change Institute

  Basalt, CO  United States  81621
• Authors:
  • Graver, Brandon
  • Rutherford, Dan
  • Zheng, Sola
• Publication Date: 2020-10

Language

• English

Media Info

• Media Type: Digital/other
• Pagination: 36p

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Aircraft exhaust gases; Carbon dioxide; Civil aviation; Passenger aircraft
• Subject Areas: Aviation; Environment; Passenger Transportation; Vehicles and Equipment;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01759084
• Record Type: Publication
• Files: TRIS
• Created Date: Nov 25 2020 10:11AM