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Based on the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, Aviation is accountable for approximately 3% of global carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, which is about 13% of CO2 emissions from total transportation. Between 1990 and 2005, annual CO2 emissions from global aviation grew 42%; and by 2025, emissions are forecasted to grow by 50-70% to between 1.2 and 1.5 billion tons. Similarly, the IEA projects that emissions from the aviation sector will increase by 300% by 2050 to more than 2.3 billion tons. This is a three-fold increase in comparison to current levels, and it would be about 20% of all CO2 permitted under a global agreement.
Global aviation is traditionally among the fastest growing polluters. Furthermore, CO2 emitted by aircrafts high above the ground level remains in the atmosphere, and the warming effect is twice as serious as CO2 emissions on the ground.

However, the aviation industry is going green and airlines are required to measure their own carbon footprint and cut emissions. The industry is taking responsibility by formulating and committing significant emission reduction initiatives based on concrete targets. Airlines have embarked on a steady campaign to stabilize emissions with carbon-neutral growth by 2020, and to reduce emissions by 50 percent by 2050. In an industry where, according to the IEA, CO2 emissions are estimated to increase 3.1 percent per year over the next 40 years, resulting in a 300 percent increase in emissions by 2050, this would be no small feat.

Internationally the industry has made a voluntary commitment to zero emission growth, but the only mandatory limits on GHG emissions from aviation were enacted by Europe, Australia, and New Zealand. Aviation will be included in the EU Emissions Trading System (ETS) beginning in 2012. The European Union’s “Aviation Amendments” to its GHG ETS, which are set to be binding on the airline industry beginning in 2012, give those ambitious goals teeth. Under the Amendments, aircraft operators that fly into or out of EU airports will be required to participate in the ETS, and surrender emissions allowances equivalent to the GHG emissions associated with their flights into and out of EU airports, regardless of whether the emissions occurred inside or outside of EU airspace.