Is the environmental impact of aviation significant?
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Control (Aviation and the Global Atmosphere, 1999) estimated that aviation contributed 2.4% of man-made carbon dioxide in 1992 (currently c. 3% – or 12.5% of all transport emissions) and that it might grow to 4% by 2050. It also estimated that the climate change impact of aviation-related carbon dioxide was 3.5% of all man-made impacts and that it might rise to 5% by 2050.
