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AIR TRAVEL

The aviation industry is officially responsible for roughly 2% of carbon dioxide emissions which comes from the burning of fossil fuels. Whilst these emissions per passenger per kilometer can be compared to driving, flights are much longer and individual plane trips can have a remarkably large carbon footprint.

Also, not all the environmental impact of air travel comes from the flying, The processing and transportation of the aviation fuel, and the manufacture and maintenance of planes, airports and support vehicles all create extra carbon dioxide. Airports themselves have high carbon footprints. All the surrounding infrastructure – terminals, runways, ground transportation, maintenance facilities and shopping centres – use significant amounts of land, water, energy and other resources. 

Duncan Clark in the Guardian summarises the topic by saying ‘There's not enough data to say for sure, but it seems likely that aviation's true impact in the UK is around 13%–15% of total greenhouse gas emissions’ ...and, before the Covid pandemic restricted air travel, flying was increasing worldwide by some 6% per year.

Sources, Bergensia - the Sustainable Gazette and the Guardian Newspaper.

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