Five of Europe’s airports emit more CO2 together than Sweden
Carbon dioxide emissions from five of Europe’s largest airports together exceed emissions from all over Sweden, shows an airport emission tracker.
To a large extent tax-free, the total emissions from London Heathrow, Paris Charles de Gaulle, Frankfurt, Amsterdam Schiphol and Madrid Barajas amount to 53 million tonnes of CO2. In 2020, Sweden emitted approximately 45.4 million tonnes of CO2, less than the year before.
The figures come from The Airport Tracker, an online tool that illustrates emissions from aircraft departing from airports around the world.
The tracker is a joint project of the International Council on Clean Transportation (ICCT), ODI and Transport and Environment (T&E).
It shows the total amount of passenger-related emissions generated by each airport, but does not include freight.
Europe’s highest air emissions of passengers per year
As many of the flights from these airports have destinations outside Europe, they are exempt from the EU and UK cap and trade systems, which only cover domestic flights within the EU.
For example, 80% of Paris Charles de Gaulle’s emissions come from long-haul flights, while smaller airports, such as Krakow, are largely short-haul. Therefore, smaller airports are taxed more than larger ones that operate longer flights with higher emissions.
All five major airports mentioned above have plans for expansion.
Jo Dardenne, Head of Aviation at T&E, said: “Unlike cars or power stations, most air emissions are released outside Europe’s borders, which means that large parts of the emissions from European airports are scandalously overlooked. All flights should be part of the emissions trading system, not just those in Europe. ”
“We can now see the alarming extent of airport emissions and it is clear that the aviation sector is not doing enough to limit its pollution. We can not justify the expansion of airports during this climate crisis, she says.