Welcome to the 4th European Aviation Environmental Report (EAER)! The main aim of this report is to provide an objective, clear and accurate source of information on the past and forecasted environmental performance of the aviation sector at the European level. This reference document is published every 3 years to inform strategic discussions and support the prioritisation of future work and resources to drive forward the issue of sustainability and coordinate a comprehensive approach across different initiatives. There has been a loss of trust that the sector is addressing these issues and telling the truth
, and this needs to be regained. Honest, transparent and effective communication is critical to addressing these challenges, as is attracting the next generation of skilled personnel and reigniting aviation’s pioneering and innovative spirit to secure a sustainable aviation future and a license to continue to operate in a carbon constrained world. Europe is positioning itself to make the most of this new green economy and this latest EAER provides an overview of this transition.
Aviation Warming Stripes
The aviation warming stripes on the pages that separate the Chapters in this report were developed in collaboration with the University of Oxford, Manchester Metropolitan University, and the NERC National Centre for Earth Observation. Based on a recent study that quantified aviation’s contribution to global warming
, the below aviation ‘warming stripes’ have been developed with the aim of communicating a complex message in a visually simple and memorable way that people can relate to. Warming stripes typically communicate on the impact of global warming in terms of changes in average surface temperature over time at the global or national level . In comparison, the colours of the aviation warming stripes below represent the modelled % contribution of aviation emissions to overall global warming (temp. increase against a pre-industrial baseline) for a given year between 1980 (1.9% on left) and 2021 (3.7% on right). Note that there remain uncertainties with regard to the climate effects of aviation non-CO2 emissions (see Chapter 2 on Environmental Impacts).
