Ongoing emissions from
… industry growth
INCREASING FLIGHT DEMAND
• Air passenger numbers to top five billion in 2025: IATA
https://techxplore.com/news/2024-12-air-passenger-billion-iata.html
• Global Air Travel Surges While Switch to Clean Jet Fuel Use Lags
https://news.bloomberglaw.com/health-law-and-business/global-air-travel-surges-while-switch-to-clean-jet-fuel-use-lags
• Global Air Travel Surges While Switch to Clean Jet Fuel Lags
https://www.energyconnects.com/news/renewables/2025/february/global-air-travel-surges-while-switch-to-clean-jet-fuel-lags/
• Global Air Travel Surges While Switch to Clean Jet Fuel Lags
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-02-11/global-air-travel-surges-while-switch-to-clean-jet-fuel-lags
• Demand for air travel has set a new all-time high
https://www.worldenergydata.org/the-energy-transition/
• Global air passenger demand reaches record high in 2024
https://www.ttgasia.com/2025/02/03/global-air-passenger-demand-reaches-record-high-in-2024/
NEW FLIGHT ROUTES
• Fifty new airline routes launching in February 2025 across the globe
https://www.travelandtourworld.com/news/article/fifty-new-airline-routes-launching-in-february-2025-across-the-globe/
INCREASING PRIVATE JETS
• As private jet flights soar in Switzerland, so do their CO2 emissions
https://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/climate-change/as-private-jet-flights-soar-in-switzerland-so-do-their-co2-emissions/88788049
• If Climate Activists Were Serious, They Would Ban Private Jets First
https://www.msn.com/en-us/travel/news/if-climate-activists-were-serious-they-would-ban-private-jets-first/
SUPERSONIC JETS
• What a return to supersonic flight could mean for climate change
https://www.technologyreview.com/2025/02/06/1111033/supersonic-climate-fast/
• Supersonic passenger aircraft may be returning – here’s what that would mean for the climate
https://theconversation.com/supersonic-passenger-aircraft-may-be-returning-heres-what-that-would-mean-for-the-climate-250116
… missing targets
• No targets for aviation or farming in UK climate plan
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cyv4g7000m4o
REDUCTIONS TOO COSTLY
• Southwest Airlines Retreats on Clean Fuel and Climate Initiatives
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-02-26/southwest-airlines-retreats-on-clean-fuel-and-climate-initiatives
• Europe’s Economy Faces Big Hit from Green Limits on Bizav
https://www.ainonline.com/aviation-news/business-aviation/2025-01-29/europes-economy-faces-big-hit-green-limits-bizav
• European Airline Bodies Push EU for Help to Reach Climate Targets
https://skift.com/2025/02/04/european-airline-bodies-push-eu-for-help-to-reach-climate-targets/
REDUCTIONS TOO SLOW
• Airlines unlikely to ever achieve net zero carbon emissions says Emirates boss
https://stockhead.com.au/news/airlines-unlikely-to-ever-achieve-net-zero-carbon-emissions-says-emirates-boss/
• Action on Net Zero must accelerate, says industry, as costs of decarbonising European aviation set to soar
https://www.greenairnews.com/?p=6665
• Sky not the only limit for JAL and ANA’s climate goals
https://www.japantimes.co.jp/environment/2025/02/16/sustainability/jal-ana-decarbonization/
… greenwashed fuels and engines
‘SUSTAINABLE’ AVIATION FUELS
The aviation industry uses marketing greenwash and accounting tricks to mislead you into thinking that actual flight emissions from ‘Sustainable’ Aviation Fuel (SAF) are a fraction of those from fossil jet fuel. A jet never burns pure SAF, so a common 50:50 blend with fossil jet fuel doubles claimed emissions. And actual flight CO2 emissions are additionally more than claimed, by the amount of CO2 drawn down in making the fuel. Furthermore SAF still creates non-CO2 emissions twice as warming as actual flight CO2 emissions.
• Sustainable Aviation Fuel Market Forecast and Analysis: Key Insights into Growth, Trends, and Emerging Opportunities
https://blog.tbrc.info/2025/02/us-sustainable-aviation-fuel-market/
• ARENA invests in cleaner, greener Australian skies
https://arena.gov.au/news/arena-invests-in-cleaner-greener-australian-skies/
• The United States Should Not Turn Food Into Aviation Fuel
https://www.wri.org/research/united-states-should-not-turn-food-aviation-fuel
• IATA takes ‘key step’ towards SAF registry with accounting and reporting methodology
https://www.aviationbusinessnews.com/industry-news/iata-takes-key-step-towards-saf-registry-with-accounting-and-reporting-methodology/
• Adoption of EU rules on the ETS support system to accelerate the use of sustainable aviation fuels
https://climate.ec.europa.eu/news-your-voice/news/adoption-eu-rules-ets-support-system-accelerate-use-sustainable-aviation-fuels-2025-02-06_en
• Can sustainable aviation fuel make plane travel green?
https://geographical.co.uk/news/geo-explainer-can-sustainable-aviation-fuel-make-plane-travel-green
• Sustainable Fuels Crucial For Hitting Aviation Climate Goals
https://www.statista.com/chart/33948/importance-of-different-aviation-measures/
• From Pellets To Carbon-Negative SAF
https://biomassmagazine.com/articles/from-pellets-to-carbon-negative-saf
• OMV Petrom breaks ground on €750m sustainable fuels facility in Romania
https://petroleumaustralia.com.au/projects/omv-petrom-breaks-ground-on-e750m-sustainable-fuels-facility-in-romania/
… delusional reduction scenarios
NET ZERO 2050
Net zero emissions by 2050 allows ongoing emissions and subtracts from them carbon drawdown needed to cool an already dangerously hot planet
• Easy Jet: Non-stop to net-zero
https://www.easyjet.com/en/netzero
• Stand-off between airlines and oil groups threatens net zero flying
https://ftedit.ft.com/Ju3k/ugw44mpk
• Australia’s net zero plan
https://www.dcceew.gov.au/climate-change/emissions-reduction/net-zero
OFFSETS
When all sectors need to reduce their emissions to zero, the aviation industry buys/offsets the reductions of others in order to grow its own emissions. When the planet is already dangerously hot, offsets steal carbon drawdown needed to cool the planet to excuse further emissions.
• How Air bp is helping its customers meet CORSIA’s goals
https://www.regionalgateway.net/how-air-bp-can-help-its-customers-meet-corsias-goals/
• How to fly green without the carbon offset ‘accounting trick’
https://www.afr.com/life-and-luxury/travel/how-to-fly-green-without-falling-into-the-greenwashing-trap-20241015-p5kilq
CORSIA
• Revealed: ‘extremely concerning’ industry influence over UN aviation body
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/feb/14/industry-influence-un-aviation-body
CARBON BUDGETS
• What is a carbon budget? And what will the UK’s latest — its seventh — mean for travel?
https://www.ttgmedia.com/sustainability/travels-carbon-catch-22-how-can-the-industry-continue-to-grow-while-reducing-its-environmental-impact-50442
Reducing emissions
… marginally from tech changes
• U.S. and International Commitments to Tackle Commercial Aviation Emissions
https://www.eesi.org/articles/view/u.s-and-international-commitments-to-tackle-commercial-aviation-emissions
ALTERED FLIGHT PATHS
• Low-carbon benefits of aircraft adopting continuous descent operations
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0306261925001205
• Airspace restrictions due to conflicts increased global aviation’s carbon dioxide emissions in 2023
https://www.nature.com/articles/s43247-024-01956-w
CONTRAIL AVOIDANCE
• Thales, Amelia and Breakthrough carry out largest-ever live contrail avoidance trial
https://www.greenairnews.com/?p=6783
DIRECT AIR CAPTURE
• Methane and carbon dioxide post-combustion capturing: A step towards low carbon aviation fuel
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2352484725000666
FUEL EFFICIENCY
• Fuel savings strategies for sustainable aviation in accordance with United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs)
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0360544225008011
MATERIAL SWAPS
• Innovating for Sustainability: How Material Swaps Are Transforming Airline Emissions and Cost Efficiency
https://www.travelandtourworld.com/news/article/innovating-for-sustainability-how-material-swaps-are-transforming-airline-emissions-and-cost-efficiency/
… from alternative fuels
HYDROGEN
• Hydrogen Fuel Shaping the Future of Sustainable Air Travel
https://flyaviation.aero/hydrogen-fuel-shaping-the-future-of-sustainable-air-travel/
• Airbus pushes back plans to fly hydrogen plane by 2035
https://archive.is/UnI7J
… alternative travel modes
LOCAL TRAVEL
• Is leisure travel so bad for the planet that we are all better off just staying home?
https://augustafreepress.com/news/is-leisure-travel-so-bad-for-the-planet-that-we-are-all-better-off-just-staying-home/
RAIL
• The economic and environmental impact of limiting air routes where there is a rail alternative: a case study of Spain
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10113-025-02366-0
Emergency
• 2024 is the first year to exceed 1.5°C above pre-industrial level
https://climate.copernicus.eu/copernicus-2024-first-year-exceed-15degc-above-pre-industrial-level
• Global Warming Has Accelerated: Are the United Nations and the Public Well-Informed?
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/00139157.2025.2434494#abstract
• Collision Course: 3-degrees of warming & humanity’s future
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=flgq63f7TOc
DOWN IS UP
• Albanese Government delivers record renewable investment and declining emissions
https://minister.dcceew.gov.au/bowen/media-releases/albanese-government-delivers-record-renewable-investment-and-declining-emissions
• Albanese’s climate report card: ‘D for Delivery’ as progress stalls
https://www.tempestsandterawatts.com/p/albaneses-climate-report-card-d-for
