By: Vivek Mishra
India ranked among the top five developing countries for aviation carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions in 2019, according to a recent study. Research analysing global flight data revealed that the United States, China, and Great Britain were the primary contributors, with shares of 22 percent, 14 per cent, and approximately four per cent, respectively.
Among economically developing nations, India stood as the third-largest contributor, accounting for nearly three per cent of global CO2 emissions from aviation, following China and the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
The study, conducted by researchers from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology, also highlighted India’s position as the third-highest contributor to global CO2 emissions from domestic aviation, representing 1.5 per cent.
“The countries with the highest absolute domestic aviation CO2 emissions (global percentage share in parentheses) are the USA (13.4 per cent), China (8.9 per cent), India (1.5 per cent), Russia (1.2 per cent), and Japan (1.1 per cent),” the authors wrote in their findings, published in the journal ‘Environmental Research Letters.’
For their analysis, the researchers utilised the AviTeam model to compute fuel consumption for individual flights. The model enabled the assessment of emissions for 45 lesser-developed countries that had not previously reported their greenhouse gas emissions from aviation.
“Our work fills the reporting gaps, so that this can inform policy and hopefully improve future negotiations,” said the first author, Jan Klenner, a PhD candidate at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology.
“Now, we have a much clearer picture of aviation emissions per country, including previously unreported emissions, which tells you something about how we can go about reducing them,” said co-author Helene Muri, a research professor at the university.
The ability to calculate nearly real-time aviation emissions could also provide an important tool as the industry makes changes to decarbonize, according to co-author Anders Hammer Stromman, a professor at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology.
“I think it very nicely illustrates the potential in this type of work, where we have previously relied on statistical offices and reporting loops that can take a year or more to get this kind of information,” he said.
“This model allows us to do instant emissions modelling – we can calculate the emissions from global aviation as it happens,” said Stromman.
(PTI)
