Climate Protection.

Air travel consumes kerosene, which results in CO₂ emissions and other pollutants that impact our climate. Approximately five percent of all global climate effects are attributed to air travel. The German aviation industry is committed to actively contributing to greater climate protection. The goal: by 2050, air travel should be net CO₂-neutral. Achieving this requires significant efforts and a variety of measures.

Climate Goals for Air Travel

The global demand for air travel continues to grow, making it even more important to align flying with climate protection. Air travel contributes about 3.06 percent to global CO₂ emissions. When considering all climate effects, the share is around five percent.

The aviation industry and air transport sector are making significant contributions towards meeting climate protection goals through their innovations and investments. Since aviation is an international mode of transport, strategies and legal frameworks for air travel should have international validity to ensure fair competition between airlines and aviation hubs in different countries.

Climate Protection Instruments

The largest contribution to reducing CO₂ emissions currently comes from investments in energy-efficient aircraft and flight procedures. Each new generation of aircraft consumes around 25 percent less kerosene and emits correspondingly less CO₂. Key factors include improvements to engines, aerodynamics, and weight. Through fleet modernization and operational efficiency – especially through improved utilization – the kerosene consumption per passenger kilometer in Germany has fallen by 45 percent since 1990.

Larger aircraft with higher load factors require fewer flights overall. Thus, a significant portion of passenger growth can be absorbed by better load factors within an optimized fleet structure. Especially in continental traffic, where most flights occur, energy efficiency per passenger has been significantly improved through optimized load factors. The bundling of traffic flows through hubs also contributes to efficient traffic management.

Optimized flight routes reduce kerosene consumption and CO₂ emissions by avoiding detours through efficient planning. Non-CO₂ effects of air travel can also be reduced through route planning: commercial aircraft typically fly at altitudes of 10 to 12 kilometers. Emissions from aircraft engines at these altitudes can lead to the formation of contrails, which under certain weather conditions can develop into cirrus clouds and affect the climate. Research projects are currently investigating how flight routes should be designed to avoid these effects.

Enabling Climate-Neutral Flying

Sustainable Aviation Fuels (SAF) are the key to CO₂-neutral flying in the medium term. In addition to burning cleaner than fossil kerosene, they help reduce non-CO₂ effects, such as contrails. The challenge: SAF is not yet available in sufficient quantities to replace significant amounts of fossil kerosene. To bring the more expensive SAF to market, the EU has set rising quotas for the blending of sustainable aviation fuels starting in 2025. Companies supplying fuel – usually oil companies – are then required to ensure that a certain proportion of their fuel sales is SAF.

Alternative propulsion systems can also contribute to more climate protection in aviation in the long term. Battery-electric solutions are only feasible for smaller aircraft due to the heavy weight of batteries. Larger aircraft, as commonly used in commercial aviation today, cannot be operated with battery-electric power for the foreseeable future. Therefore, the aviation industry is researching hydrogen-powered fuel cells for aircraft.

CO₂ Reduction Through Pricing

Until sustainable aviation fuels or alternative propulsion systems are available on a large scale, CO₂ pricing instruments will be used. These instruments are designed so that the aviation industry must pay for its CO₂ emissions. These payments are then used to fund CO₂ reduction measures elsewhere. Two complementary systems are used for this: For flights within the European Economic Area (EEA), the European Emissions Trading System (EU-ETS) applies; for all other international flights, the international climate protection instrument CORSIA is used.

In the European Emissions Trading System, CO₂ emissions are priced by requiring companies that cannot yet technically avoid their emissions to purchase emission allowances. Companies that can technically decarbonize can refinance their investments by selling emission allowances. Additionally, the number of emission allowances in the EU-ETS is capped and reduced annually, thus leading to less CO₂ being emitted. Intra-European air travel has been part of the EU-ETS since 2012 and has been growing CO₂-neutrally since then.

At the UN level, the CO₂ compensation system CORSIA was adopted in 2016. CORSIA mandates that CO₂ emissions from international flights exceeding a set benchmark must be offset. Unlike the EU-ETS, which is based on trading emission certificates, CORSIA operates as a compensation mechanism. Airlines must offset their growth-related CO₂ emissions through certified climate protection projects outside the aviation sector. Flights within the EEA continue to be covered by the EU-ETS, not CORSIA. Since 2021, international air travel has been growing CO₂-neutrally through CORSIA. Over 80 countries are participating in CORSIA’s voluntary phase, covering nearly 80 percent of international air traffic. From 2027, CORSIA will apply to more countries, covering 90 percent of emissions. Passengers can also voluntarily offset the climate impact of their flights through donations, choosing between traditional CO₂ compensation projects or sustainable aviation fuels.

Debate on the Introduction of a Kerosene Tax

Under internationally binding regulations, no tax can be levied on kerosene used in international flights. This has led to criticism that aviation is privileged compared to other modes of transport due to the absence of a kerosene tax.

A purely national or European kerosene tax would lead to a significant shift in passenger flows to hubs outside the EU, resulting in carbon leakage. Therefore, in 2011, the German government introduced the air traffic tax. This tax is levied on all flights departing from Germany and is intentionally based on the distance to the destination. The tax amount is the same for a given trip, regardless of whether and where a passenger transfers. In contrast, a national or European kerosene tax would incentivize passengers to

CO₂-Neutral Airports

Airports are also reducing their CO₂ emissions through various measures. German airports have set an ambitious goal for themselves: by 2045, they aim to be climate-neutral. Between 2010 and 2021, German airports were able to reduce their CO₂ emissions by 35 percent.

Infrastructure

Intermodality

Strengthening intermodality, particularly in domestic German transport, is another important element for enhancing climate protection. The German aviation industry is therefore working closely with Deutsche Bahn, aiming to encourage more travelers to switch to rail whenever possible.

Intermodality

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