| GHG emissions from aviation are 3.5% of developed countries emissions ArgumentSoutien1 #36272
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Greenhouse gas emissions from aviation currently account for approximately 3.5% of emissions from developed countries. However, in its 2007 Fourth Assessment Report, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) reported that "civil aviation is one of the world’s fastest growing transport means."[1] Between 1990 and 2005 the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change reported that international aviation emissions from developed countries rose by 65.8% between 1990 and 2005.[2]
Despite this rapid growth, greenhouse gas emissions from aviation are currently excluded from any restrictions under the Kyoto Protocol. (Domestic aviation is included in national emissions targets.)
The IPCC also reported that data from the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) revealed that "aviation scheduled traffic (revenue passenger-km, RPK) has grown at an average annual rate of 3.8% between 2001 and 2005 despite the downturn from the terrorist attacks and SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome) during this period, and is currently growing at 5.9% per year."[1]
The IPCC noted that Airbus and Boeing projected "passenger traffic growth trends of 5.3% and 4.9% respectively, and freight trends at 5.9% and 6.1% respectively over the next 20 or 25 years". It concluded that "these forecasts and others predict a global average annual passenger traffic growth of around 5% – passenger traffic doubling in 15 years – with freight traffic growing at a faster rate that passenger traffic, although from a smaller base."[1]
Modeling cited by the IPCC estimated that aviation emissions were approximately 492 million tonnes of carbon dioxide and 2.06 million tonnes of nitrogen oxide in 2002 and will increase to 1029 and 3.31 million tonnes respectively by 2025.[1]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Suzana Kahn Ribeiro, Shigeki Kobayashi, Michel Beuthe, Jorge Gasca, David Greene, David S. Lee, Yasunori Muromachi, Peter J. Newton, Steven Plotkin, Daniel Sperling, Ron Wit and Peter J. Zhou, "Transport and its infrastructure" in "IPCC Fourth Assessment Report: Working Group III Report "Mitigation of Climate Change", Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, 2007, pages 334.
- ↑ United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, "National greenhouse gas inventory data for the period 1990–2005", December 2007, page 13.
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