Small adjustments could reduce the warming of the atmosphere caused by airplane condensation trails by 80% and would cost 1.60 euros per passenger, suggests a European study published this Saturday.
Under the responsibility of the European Federation of Transport and Environment (T&E), which brings together European organizations linked to transport and the environment, the study highlights that more than half of the damage caused to the climate by aviation could avoided with 1.60 euros per passenger, less than the cost of a coffee drunk at the airport.
The study, released in Portugal by the environmental association Zero, which is part of T&E, indicates that the reduction in warming is related to condensation trails (“contrails”), the white lines that are seen in the sky when planes pass by. . , formed by the contact between the air heated by the engines and the cold air at altitude.
It is possible, Zero explains in a statement about the study, to make small adjustments to flight paths, such as small climbs or descents, to avoid cold and humid atmospheric areas where contrails form. These adjustments would cost four euros per passenger for intercontinental trips and less than two for intra-European trips.
Adjusting flight plans would halve warming by 2040, because contrails have a warming effect on the planet, like clouds, causing a greenhouse effect. And estimates indicate that this effect is as important as carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from airplanes.
According to the statement, only a small proportion of flights (3% globally and 5% in the European Union) generate 80% of the total warming caused by contrails, so adjustments to the flight plans flight would be very limited and, if they occurred, it would be on a small portion of the trips.
On flights subject to adjustment, the additional fuel consumption would be 5% or less. But avoiding traces of condensation “has a climate benefit between 15 and 40 times greater than the damage caused by additional fuel consumption.”
According to calculations presented in the document, for every ton of carbon dioxide equivalent avoided, adjustments to flight plans are around 15 times cheaper than others.
The organizations say legislation should include monitoring of non-CO2 effects on all EU flights from 2027, from which date flights in Europe must be monitored.
Regarding the conclusions of the study, the Zero association recommends that contrail-free skies be mandatory, that the collection of data on non-CO2 emissions be improved and increased from 2027 in the EU and that the amount of Sustainable fuels in aviation.
The T&E study indicates that last year a test was carried out with more than 70 flights, in which 54% of contrail formation was mitigated, with an estimated increase of 0.3% in fuel consumption.
Contrails are the most important non-CO2 effects of aviation. Most contrails dissipate within a few minutes, but under certain conditions they can persist in the atmosphere, spread and transform into artificial clouds with a warming effect.
Flights in North America, Europe and the North Atlantic region accounted for more than half of the global warming caused by contrails in 2019. The largest contributors to warming are night and late afternoon flights.
The issue was discussed Wednesday at the UN climate conference in Baku, Azerbaijan, at an event hosted by the University of Cambridge.
Aviation emissions are expected to more than double between now and 2050, according to the university, which also warns of the contribution to global warming of white contrails from airplane flights, considered equivalent to 33 billion tons of CO2. .
Source: Observadora
