Air Travel Footprint
International air travel has a significant impact on our climate. Current data suggest that aviation accounts for 2,5% of CO2 and 3,5% of non-CO2 emissions globally. Moreover, flights do not only affect our climate through CO2 emissions, but also through radiative forcing: the global warming effect of non-CO2 pollutants such as water vapour and aerosols. To factor in these non-CO2 residuals is important, as they significantly contribute to the overall climate impact of flights.
FORLIANCE – Use of RFI (Radiative Forcing Index)
FORLIANCE does take these mentioned effects into account by applying an RFI (radiative forcing index) when calculating flight emissions. This factor adjusts the emissions accordingly and depicts the total climate effect (CO2 and non-CO2 effects) more accurately. There is, however, a lot of discrepancy between distance categorization in flight emission calculators and their respective sources (UBA – Integration of Non-CO2 Effects of Aviation in the EU ETS and under CORSIA, 2020). The UK Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) is considered to be a reliable source for flight emissions factors. It has established a well-argued methodological framework which has a smaller risk of commercial interference, and data are published by a governmental body. Therefore, FORLIANCE follows the BEIS approach and applies a RFI multiplier of 1.9 to flight emission calculations. It should be noted although that there’s an ongoing scientific debate regarding the value of this multiplier; the factor is generally seen to be subject to significant uncertainty.
Sources
2020 Government greenhouse gas conversion factors for company reporting: Methodology Paper for Conversion factors Final Report – DEFRA, 2020
Integration of Non-CO2 Effects of Aviation in the EU ETS and under CORSIA – Umweltbundesamt, 2020
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