Currently, only 10% of the world's population uses air transportation, but this figure is expected to rise with increasing incomes, Rob Miller, Director of Aviation Impact Accelerator at Cambridge University, said during the event titled "Aviation Impact Accelerator and Breakthrough Energy" held within COP29, Report informs.
"One of the main challenges facing the world by 2050 will be related to the negative climate impacts of the aviation sector. Aviation's impact on climate is not limited to CO2 emissions. Contrails created by aircraft also have a significant impact on global warming. At current traffic levels, the warming caused by these trails reaches 33 billion tons of CO2 equivalent, which equals approximately 16% of the carbon budget set by the IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change)," Miller emphasized.
He added that outside the aviation industry and policy circles, opportunities to selectively prevent contrails to reduce global carbon emissions are still limited.