There is no doubt that flights have become a standard way to travel, whether it is for fascinating holiday trips or international business meetings.
Yet, did you know that around 2.4% of the world's CO2 emissions come from aviation and the industry is accountable for about 5% of the world's global warming?
Dan Rutherford, shipping and aviation director at the International Council on Clean Transportation (ICCT), a US-based non-profit, estimates that just 3% of the global population takes regular flights.
But with the rising trend, if everyone in the world took just one long-haul flight per year, aircraft emissions would far exceed the US’s entire CO2 emissions, according to ICCT analysis.
Flight is the most environmentally damaging method of transport. Between 2013 and 2018, the carbon footprint due to air travel rose by 32%.
This serves to show that we as a community should find alternatives to air travel, such as car travel or train travel. We should visit local areas more often as this will greatly help reduce each person's personal carbon footprint.