posts: 36880

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id	title	slug	type	status	content	archieml	archieml_update_statistics	published_at	updated_at	gdocSuccessorId	authors	excerpt	created_at_in_wordpress	updated_at_in_wordpress	featured_image	formattingOptions	markdown	wpApiSnapshot
36880	Where in the world do people have the highest CO2 emissions from flying?	carbon-footprint-flying	post	publish	<!-- wp:html --> <div class="blog-info"> <p>Our World in Data presents the data and research to make progress against the world’s largest problems.<br>This blog post draws on data and research discussed in our entries on <strong><a href="https://ourworldindata.org/co2-and-other-greenhouse-gas-emissions" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">CO<sub>2</sub> and Greenhouse Gas Emissions</a></strong> and <strong><a href="https://ourworldindata.org/energy" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Energy</a></strong>.</p> </div> <!-- /wp:html --> <!-- wp-block-tombstone 45131 --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Aviation accounts <a href="https://ourworldindata.org/co2-emissions-from-aviation" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">for around 2.5%</a> of global carbon dioxide (CO<sub>2</sub>) emissions. But if you are someone who does fly, air travel will make up a much larger share of your personal carbon footprint.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The fact that aviation is relatively small for global emissions as a whole, but of large importance for individuals that fly is due to large inequalities in the world. Most people in the  world do not take flights. There is no global reliable figure, but often cited estimates suggest that more than 80% of the global population have never flown.{ref}There is no global database available on <em>who</em> in the world flies each year. Passenger information is maintained by private airlines. Therefore, deriving estimates of this exact percentage is challenging. The most-cited estimate I’ve seen on this is that around 80% of the world population have never flown. This figure seems to circle back to a <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2017/12/07/boeing-ceo-80-percent-of-people-never-flown-for-us-that-means-growth.html#:~:text=%E2%80%9CLess%20than%2020%20percent%20of,the%20entire%20economy%2C%20Muilenburg%20said.">quoted estimate</a> from the Boeing CEO.<br><br>Even in some of the world’s richest countries, a large share of the population do not fly frequently. Gallup <a href="https://news.gallup.com/poll/1579/airlines.aspx">survey data</a> from the United States suggests that in 2015, half of the population did not take a flight. Survey data from the UK <a href="http://publicapps.caa.co.uk/docs/33/CAA%20Aviation%20Consumer%20survey%20--%205th%20wave%20report%20FINAL%20(2).pdf">provides similar estimates</a>: 46% had not flown in the previous year.{/ref}</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>How do emissions from aviation vary across the world? Where do people have the highest footprint from flying?</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:heading {"level":4} --> <h4>Per capita emissions from domestic flights</h4> <!-- /wp:heading --> <!-- wp:columns --> <div class="wp-block-columns"><!-- wp:column --> <div class="wp-block-column"><!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The first and most straightforward comparison is to look at emissions from <em>domestic</em> aviation – that is, flights that depart and arrive in the same country. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>This is easiest to compare because domestic aviation is counted in each country’s inventory of greenhouse gas emissions. International flights, on the other hand, are not attributed to specific countries – partly because of contention as to who should take responsibility (should it be the country of departure or arrival? What about layover flights?).</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>In the chart here we see the average per capita emissions from domestic flights in 2018. This data is sourced from the <em>International Council on Clean Transportation</em> – we then used <a href="https://population.un.org/wpp/">UN population estimates</a> to calculate per capita figures.{ref}Graver, B., Zhang, K., & Rutherford, D. (2019). <a href="https://theicct.org/publications/co2-emissions-commercial-aviation-2018">CO2 emissions from commercial aviation, 2018</a>. <em>The International Council of Clean Transportation</em>.{/ref}<sup>,</sup>{ref}Note that this gives us <em>mean</em> per capita emissions, which  does not account for in-country inequalities in the amount of flights people take.{/ref}</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>We see large differences in emissions from domestic flights across the world. In the United States the average person emits around 386 kilograms of CO<sub>2</sub> each year from internal flights. This is followed by Australia (267 kg); Norway (209 kg); New Zealand (174 kg); and Canada (168 kg). Compare this with  countries at the bottom of the table – many across Africa, Asia, and Eastern Europe in particular emit less than one kilogram per person – just 0.8 kilograms; or 0.14 kilograms in Rwanda. For very small countries where there are no internal commercial flights, domestic emissions are of course, zero.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>There are some obvious factors that explain some of these cross-country differences. Firstly, countries that are richer <a href="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/per-capita-co2-domestic-aviation-vs-gdp">are more likely</a> to have higher emissions because people can afford to fly. Second, countries that have a larger land mass may have more internal flights – and indeed we see a <a href="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/per-capita-co2-domestic-aviation-vs-land-area">correlation</a> between land area and domestic flight emissions; in small countries people are more likely to travel by other means such as car or train.  And third, countries that are more geographically-isolated – such as Australia and New Zealand – may have more internal travel.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --></div> <!-- /wp:column --> <!-- wp:column --> <div class="wp-block-column"><!-- wp:html --> <iframe src="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/per-capita-co2-domestic-aviation" loading="lazy" style="width: 100%; height: 600px; border: 0px none;"></iframe> <!-- /wp:html --> <!-- wp:heading {"level":5} --> <h5>Related charts:</h5> <!-- /wp:heading --> <!-- wp:owid/prominent-link {"title":"Total CO₂ emissions from domestic aviation","linkUrl":"https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/co2-emissions-domestic-aviation","className":"is-style-thin"} /--> <!-- wp:owid/prominent-link {"title":"Share of global CO₂ emissions from domestic aviation","linkUrl":"https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/share-global-co2-domestic-aviation","className":"is-style-thin"} /--></div> <!-- /wp:column --></div> <!-- /wp:columns --> <!-- wp:heading {"level":4} --> <h4>Per capita emissions from international flights</h4> <!-- /wp:heading --> <!-- wp:columns --> <div class="wp-block-columns"><!-- wp:column --> <div class="wp-block-column"><!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Allocating emissions from international flights is more complex. International databases report these emissions separately as a category termed ‘bunker fuels’. The term ‘bunker fuel’ is used to describe emissions which come from international transport – either aviation or shipping.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Because they are <a href="https://unfccc.int/topics/mitigation/workstreams/emissions-from-international-transport-bunker-fuels">not counted towards</a> any particular country these emissions are also not taken into account in the goals that are set by countries in international treaties like the Kyoto protocol or the Paris Agreement.{ref}Larsson, J., Kamb, A., Nässén, J., & Åkerman, J. (2018). <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0195925517303116">Measuring greenhouse gas emissions from international air travel of a country’s residents methodological development and application for Sweden</a>. <em>Environmental Impact Assessment Review</em>, <em>72</em>, 137-144.{/ref}</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>But if we wanted to allocate them to a particular country, how would we do it? Who do emissions from international flights belong to: the country that owns the airline; the country of departure; the country of arrival?</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Let’s first take a look at how emissions would compare if we allocated them to the country of <em>departure</em>. This means, for example, that emissions from any flight that departs from Spain are counted towards Spain’s total. In the chart here we see international aviation emissions in per capita terms.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Some of the largest emitters per person in 2018 were Iceland (3.5 tonnes of CO<sub>2</sub> per person); Qatar (2.5 tonnes); United Arab Emirates (2.2 tonnes); Singapore (1.7 tonnes); and Malta (992 kilograms). </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Again, we see large inequalities in emissions across the world – in many lower-income countries per capita emissions are only a few kilograms: 6 kilograms in India, 4 kilograms in Nigeria; and only 1.4 kilograms in the Democratic Republic of Congo.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --></div> <!-- /wp:column --> <!-- wp:column --> <div class="wp-block-column"><!-- wp:html --> <iframe src="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/per-capita-co2-international-aviation?stackMode=absolute&time=latest&region=World" loading="lazy" style="width: 100%; height: 600px; border: 0px none;"></iframe> <!-- /wp:html --> <!-- wp:heading {"level":5} --> <h5>Related charts:</h5> <!-- /wp:heading --> <!-- wp:owid/prominent-link {"title":"Total CO₂ emissions from international aviation","linkUrl":"https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/co2-international-aviation","className":"is-style-thin"} /--> <!-- wp:owid/prominent-link {"title":"Share of global CO₂ emissions from international aviation","linkUrl":"https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/share-co2-international-aviation","className":"is-style-thin"} /--></div> <!-- /wp:column --></div> <!-- /wp:columns --> <!-- wp:heading {"level":4} --> <h4>Per capita emissions from international flights – adjusted for tourism</h4> <!-- /wp:heading --> <!-- wp:columns --> <div class="wp-block-columns"><!-- wp:column --> <div class="wp-block-column"><!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The above allocation of international aviation emissions to the country of <em>departure</em> raises some issues. It is not an accurate reflection of the local population of countries that rely a lot on tourism, for example. Most of the departing flights from these countries are carrying visiting tourists rather than locals. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>One way to correct for this is to adjust these figures for the ratio of inbound to outbound travellers. This approach was applied <a href="https://theicct.org/blog/staff/not-every-tonne-of-aviation-CO2">in an analysis</a> by Sola Zheng for the <em>International Council on Clean Transportation</em>. This attempts to distinguish between locals traveling abroad and foreign visitors traveling to that country on the same flight.{ref}A country with a ratio greater than one will have more incoming travellers than outgoing locals i.e. they are more of a hotspot for tourism.{/ref} For example, if we calculated that Spain had 50% more incoming than outgoing travellers, we would reduce its per capita footprint from flying by 50%. If the UK had 75% more outgoing travellers than incoming, we’d increase its footprint by 75%.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>We have replicated this approach and  applied this adjustment to these figures by calculating the <a href="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/ratio-of-inbound-to-outbound-tourists">inbound:outbound tourist ratio</a> based on flight departures and arrival data from the <a href="https://datacatalog.worldbank.org/dataset/world-development-indicators">World Bank</a>. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>How does this affect per capita emissions from international flights? The adjusted figures are shown in the chart here.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>As we would expect, countries which are tourist hotspots see the largest change. Portugal’s emissions, for example, fall from 388 to just 60 kilograms per person. Portuguese locals are responsible for much fewer travel emissions than outgoing tourists. Spanish emissions fall from 335 to 77 kilograms per person.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>On the other hand, countries where the locals travel elsewhere see a large increase. In the UK, they almost double from 422 to 818 kilograms.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --></div> <!-- /wp:column --> <!-- wp:column --> <div class="wp-block-column"><!-- wp:html --> <iframe src="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/per-capita-co2-international-flights-adjusted?stackMode=absolute&time=latest&region=World" loading="lazy" style="width: 100%; height: 600px; border: 0px none;"></iframe> <!-- /wp:html --></div> <!-- /wp:column --></div> <!-- /wp:columns --> <!-- wp:heading {"level":4} --> <h4>Per capita emissions from domestic <em>and </em>international flights</h4> <!-- /wp:heading --> <!-- wp:columns --> <div class="wp-block-columns"><!-- wp:column --> <div class="wp-block-column"><!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Let’s combine per capita emissions from domestic and international travel to compare the total footprint from flying.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>This is shown in the interactive map <em>[we’ve taken the adjusted international figures – you can find the  combined figures without tourism-adjustment </em><a href="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/per-capita-co2-aviation"><strong><em>here</em></strong></a><em>]. </em></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The global average emissions from aviation were 103 kilograms. The inequality in emissions across the world becomes clear when this is broken down by country. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>At the top of the table lies the United Arab Emirates – each person emits close to two tonnes – 1950 kg – of CO<sub>2</sub> from flying each year. That’s 200 times the global average.  This was followed by Singapore (1173 kilograms); Iceland (1070 kg); Finland (1000 kg); and Australia (878 kilograms). </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>To put this into perspective: a return flight (in economy class) from London to Dubai/United Arab Emirates would emit around one tonne of CO<sub>2</sub>.{ref}We can calculate this by taking the standard CO2 conversion factors for travel, used in the <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/greenhouse-gas-reporting-conversion-factors-2019">UK greenhouse gas accounting framework</a>. For a long-haul flight in economy class, around 0.079 kilograms of CO<sub>2</sub> <a href="https://ourworldindata.org/travel-carbon-footprint">are emitted</a> per passenger-kilometer. This means that you would travel around 12,600 kilometers to emit one tonne [1,000,000 / 0.079 kg = 12,626 kilometers]. Since we’re taking a return flight, the travel distance would be half of that figure: around 6300 kilometers. The direct distance from <a href="https://www.distance.to/London/Dubai,ARE">London to Dubai</a> is around 5,500 kilometers. Depending on the flight path, it’s likely to be slightly longer than this, and in the range of 5500 to 6500 kilometers.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Note that in this case we’re looking at CO<sub>2</sub> emissions <em>without</em> the extra warming effects of these emissions at high altitudes. This is to allow us to compare with the ICCT figures by country presented in this article. You find additional data on how the footprint of flying is impacted by non-CO<sub>2</sub> warming effects<a href="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/carbon-footprint-travel-mode"> <strong>here</strong></a>.{/ref} So the two-tonne average for the UAE is equivalent to around two return trips to London.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>In many countries, most people do not fly at all. The average Indian emits just 18 kilograms from aviation – this is much, much less than even a short-haul flight which confirms that most did not take a flight.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>In fact, we can compare just the aviation emissions for the top countries to the <em>total</em> carbon footprint of citizens elsewhere. The average UAE citizen emits 1950 kilograms of CO<sub>2</sub> from flying. This is the same as the <em>total</em> <a href="https://ourworldindata.org/explorers/co2?tab=chart&xScale=linear&yScale=linear&stackMode=absolute&endpointsOnly=0&year=latest&time=1858..2018&country=~India&region=World&Gas%20=CO%E2%82%82&Accounting%20=Production-based&Fuel%20=Total&Count%20=Per%20capita&Relative%20to%20world%20total%20=">CO<sub>2</sub> footprint of the average Indian</a> (including everything from electricity to road transport, heating and industry). Or, to take a more extreme example, 200 times the total footprint of the average Nigerien, Ugandan or Ethiopian, which <a href="https://ourworldindata.org/explorers/co2?tab=chart&xScale=linear&yScale=linear&stackMode=absolute&endpointsOnly=0&year=latest&time=1958..2018&country=Niger~Uganda~Ethiopia&region=World&Gas%20=CO%E2%82%82&Accounting%20=Production-based&Fuel%20=Total&Count%20=Per%20capita&Relative%20to%20world%20total%20=">have per capita emissions</a> of around 100 kilograms. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>This again emphasises the large difference between the global average and the individual emissions of people who fly. Aviation contributes a few percent of total CO<sub>2</sub> emissions each year – this is not insignificant, but far from being the largest sector to tackle. Yet from the perspective of the individual, flying <em>is</em> often one of the largest chunks of our carbon footprint. The average rich person emits tonnes of CO<sub>2</sub> from flying each year – this is equivalent to the <em>total</em> carbon footprint of tens or hundreds of people in many countries of the world.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --></div> <!-- /wp:column --> <!-- wp:column --> <div class="wp-block-column"><!-- wp:html --> <iframe src="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/per-capita-co2-aviation-adjusted?stackMode=absolute&region=World" loading="lazy" style="width: 100%; height: 600px; border: 0px none;"></iframe> <!-- /wp:html --> <!-- wp:heading {"level":5} --> <h5>Related charts:</h5> <!-- /wp:heading --> <!-- wp:owid/prominent-link {"title":"Per capita CO₂ emissions from aviation (without tourism adjustment)","linkUrl":"https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/per-capita-co2-aviation","className":"is-style-thin"} /--> <!-- wp:owid/prominent-link {"title":"Total CO₂ emissions from aviation","linkUrl":"https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/co2-emissions-aviation","className":"is-style-thin"} /--> <!-- wp:owid/prominent-link {"title":"Share of global CO₂ emissions from aviation","linkUrl":"https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/share-co2-emissions-aviation","className":"is-style-thin"} /--></div> <!-- /wp:column --></div> <!-- /wp:columns -->	{ "id": "wp-36880", "slug": "carbon-footprint-flying", "content": { "toc": [], "body": [ { "type": "text", "value": [ { "text": "Our World in Data presents the data and research to make progress against the world\u2019s largest problems.", "spanType": "span-simple-text" }, { "spanType": "span-newline" }, { "text": "This blog post draws on data and research discussed in our entries on ", "spanType": "span-simple-text" }, { "children": [ { "url": "https://ourworldindata.org/co2-and-other-greenhouse-gas-emissions", "children": [ { "text": "CO", "spanType": "span-simple-text" }, { "children": [ { "text": "2", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "spanType": "span-subscript" }, { "text": " and Greenhouse Gas Emissions", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "spanType": "span-link" } ], "spanType": "span-bold" }, { "text": " and ", "spanType": "span-simple-text" }, { "children": [ { "url": "https://ourworldindata.org/energy", "children": [ { "text": "Energy", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "spanType": "span-link" } ], "spanType": "span-bold" }, { "text": ".", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "parseErrors": [] }, { "type": "text", "value": [ { "text": "Aviation accounts ", "spanType": "span-simple-text" }, { "url": "https://ourworldindata.org/co2-emissions-from-aviation", "children": [ { "text": "for around 2.5%", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "spanType": "span-link" }, { "text": " of global carbon dioxide (CO", "spanType": "span-simple-text" }, { "children": [ { "text": "2", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "spanType": "span-subscript" }, { "text": ") emissions. 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International flights, on the other hand, are not attributed to specific countries \u2013 partly because of contention as to who should take responsibility (should it be the country of departure or arrival? What about layover flights?).", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "parseErrors": [] }, { "type": "text", "value": [ { "text": "In the chart here we see the average per capita emissions from domestic flights in 2018. This data is sourced from the ", "spanType": "span-simple-text" }, { "children": [ { "text": "International Council on Clean Transportation", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "spanType": "span-italic" }, { "text": " \u2013 we then used ", "spanType": "span-simple-text" }, { "url": "https://population.un.org/wpp/", "children": [ { "text": "UN population estimates", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "spanType": "span-link" }, { "text": " to calculate per capita figures.{ref}Graver, B., Zhang, K., & Rutherford, D. (2019). 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", "spanType": "span-simple-text" }, { "children": [ { "text": "The International Council of Clean Transportation", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "spanType": "span-italic" }, { "text": ".{/ref}", "spanType": "span-simple-text" }, { "children": [ { "text": ",", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "spanType": "span-superscript" }, { "text": "{ref}Note that this gives us ", "spanType": "span-simple-text" }, { "children": [ { "text": "mean", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "spanType": "span-italic" }, { "text": " per capita emissions, which\u00a0 does not account for in-country inequalities in the amount of flights people take.{/ref}", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "parseErrors": [] }, { "type": "text", "value": [ { "text": "We see large differences in emissions from domestic flights across the world. In the United States the average person emits around 386 kilograms of CO", "spanType": "span-simple-text" }, { "children": [ { "text": "2", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "spanType": "span-subscript" }, { "text": " each year from internal flights. This is followed by Australia (267 kg); Norway (209 kg); New Zealand (174 kg); and Canada (168 kg). Compare this with\u00a0 countries at the bottom of the table \u2013 many across Africa, Asia, and Eastern Europe in particular emit less than one kilogram per person \u2013 just 0.8 kilograms; or 0.14 kilograms in Rwanda. For very small countries where there are no internal commercial flights, domestic emissions are of course, zero.", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "parseErrors": [] }, { "type": "text", "value": [ { "text": "There are some obvious factors that explain some of these cross-country differences. Firstly, countries that are richer ", "spanType": "span-simple-text" }, { "url": "https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/per-capita-co2-domestic-aviation-vs-gdp", "children": [ { "text": "are more likely", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "spanType": "span-link" }, { "text": " to have higher emissions because people can afford to fly. Second, countries that have a larger land mass may have more internal flights \u2013\u00a0and indeed we see a ", "spanType": "span-simple-text" }, { "url": "https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/per-capita-co2-domestic-aviation-vs-land-area", "children": [ { "text": "correlation", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "spanType": "span-link" }, { "text": " between land area and domestic flight emissions; in small countries people are more likely to travel by other means such as car or train.\u00a0 And third, countries that are more geographically-isolated \u2013 such as Australia and New Zealand \u2013 may have more internal travel.", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "parseErrors": [] } ], "type": "sticky-right", "right": [ { "url": "https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/per-capita-co2-domestic-aviation", "type": "chart", "parseErrors": [] }, { "text": [ { "text": "Related charts:", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "type": "heading", "level": 5, "parseErrors": [] }, { "url": "https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/co2-emissions-domestic-aviation", "type": "prominent-link", "title": "Total CO\u2082 emissions from domestic aviation", "description": "", "parseErrors": [] }, { "url": "https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/share-global-co2-domestic-aviation", "type": "prominent-link", "title": "Share of global CO\u2082 emissions from domestic aviation", "description": "", "parseErrors": [] } ], "parseErrors": [] }, { "text": [ { "text": "Per capita emissions from international flights", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "type": "heading", "level": 2, "parseErrors": [] }, { "left": [ { "type": "text", "value": [ { "text": "Allocating emissions from international flights is more complex. International databases report these emissions separately as a category termed \u2018bunker fuels\u2019. The term \u2018bunker fuel\u2019 is used to describe emissions which come from international transport \u2013 either aviation or shipping.", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "parseErrors": [] }, { "type": "text", "value": [ { "text": "Because they are ", "spanType": "span-simple-text" }, { "url": "https://unfccc.int/topics/mitigation/workstreams/emissions-from-international-transport-bunker-fuels", "children": [ { "text": "not counted towards", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "spanType": "span-link" }, { "text": " any particular country these emissions are also not taken into account in the goals that are set by countries in international treaties like the Kyoto protocol or the Paris Agreement.{ref}Larsson, J., Kamb, A., N\u00e4ss\u00e9n, J., & \u00c5kerman, J. (2018). ", "spanType": "span-simple-text" }, { "url": "https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0195925517303116", "children": [ { "text": "Measuring greenhouse gas emissions from international air travel of a country\u2019s residents methodological development and application for Sweden", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "spanType": "span-link" }, { "text": ". ", "spanType": "span-simple-text" }, { "children": [ { "text": "Environmental Impact Assessment Review", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "spanType": "span-italic" }, { "text": ", ", "spanType": "span-simple-text" }, { "children": [ { "text": "72", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "spanType": "span-italic" }, { "text": ", 137-144.{/ref}", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "parseErrors": [] }, { "type": "text", "value": [ { "text": "But if we wanted to allocate them to a particular country, how would we do it? Who do emissions from international flights belong to: the country that owns the airline; the country of departure; the country of arrival?", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "parseErrors": [] }, { "type": "text", "value": [ { "text": "Let\u2019s first take a look at how emissions would compare if we allocated them to the country of ", "spanType": "span-simple-text" }, { "children": [ { "text": "departure", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "spanType": "span-italic" }, { "text": ". This means, for example, that emissions from any flight that departs from Spain are counted towards Spain\u2019s total. In the chart here we see international aviation emissions in per capita terms.", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "parseErrors": [] }, { "type": "text", "value": [ { "text": "Some of the largest emitters per person in 2018 were Iceland (3.5 tonnes of CO", "spanType": "span-simple-text" }, { "children": [ { "text": "2", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "spanType": "span-subscript" }, { "text": " per person); Qatar (2.5 tonnes); United Arab Emirates (2.2 tonnes); Singapore (1.7 tonnes); and Malta (992 kilograms).\u00a0", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "parseErrors": [] }, { "type": "text", "value": [ { "text": "Again, we see large inequalities in emissions across the world \u2013 in many lower-income countries per capita emissions are only a few kilograms: 6 kilograms in India, 4 kilograms in Nigeria; and only 1.4 kilograms in the Democratic Republic of Congo.", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "parseErrors": [] } ], "type": "sticky-right", "right": [ { "url": "https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/per-capita-co2-international-aviation?stackMode=absolute&time=latest&region=World", "type": "chart", "parseErrors": [] }, { "text": [ { "text": "Related charts:", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "type": "heading", "level": 5, "parseErrors": [] }, { "url": "https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/co2-international-aviation", "type": "prominent-link", "title": "Total CO\u2082 emissions from international aviation", "description": "", "parseErrors": [] }, { "url": "https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/share-co2-international-aviation", "type": "prominent-link", "title": "Share of global CO\u2082 emissions from international aviation", "description": "", "parseErrors": [] } ], "parseErrors": [] }, { "text": [ { "text": "Per capita emissions from international flights \u2013 adjusted for tourism", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "type": "heading", "level": 2, "parseErrors": [] }, { "left": [ { "type": "text", "value": [ { "text": "The above allocation of international aviation emissions to the country of ", "spanType": "span-simple-text" }, { "children": [ { "text": "departure", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "spanType": "span-italic" }, { "text": " raises some issues. It is not an accurate reflection of the local population of countries that rely a lot on tourism, for example. Most of the departing flights from these countries are carrying visiting tourists rather than locals.\u00a0", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "parseErrors": [] }, { "type": "text", "value": [ { "text": "One way to correct for this is to adjust these figures for the ratio of inbound to outbound travellers. This approach was applied ", "spanType": "span-simple-text" }, { "url": "https://theicct.org/blog/staff/not-every-tonne-of-aviation-CO2", "children": [ { "text": "in an analysis", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "spanType": "span-link" }, { "text": " by Sola Zheng for the ", "spanType": "span-simple-text" }, { "children": [ { "text": "International Council on Clean Transportation", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "spanType": "span-italic" }, { "text": ". This attempts to distinguish between locals traveling abroad and foreign visitors traveling to that country on the same flight.{ref}A country with a ratio greater than one will have more incoming travellers than outgoing locals i.e. they are more of a hotspot for tourism.{/ref} For example, if we calculated that Spain had 50% more incoming than outgoing travellers, we would reduce its per capita footprint from flying by 50%. If the UK had 75% more outgoing travellers than incoming, we\u2019d increase its footprint by 75%.", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "parseErrors": [] }, { "type": "text", "value": [ { "text": "We have replicated this approach and\u00a0 applied this adjustment to these figures by calculating the ", "spanType": "span-simple-text" }, { "url": "https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/ratio-of-inbound-to-outbound-tourists", "children": [ { "text": "inbound:outbound tourist ratio", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "spanType": "span-link" }, { "text": " based on flight departures and arrival data from the ", "spanType": "span-simple-text" }, { "url": "https://datacatalog.worldbank.org/dataset/world-development-indicators", "children": [ { "text": "World Bank", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "spanType": "span-link" }, { "text": ".\u00a0", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "parseErrors": [] }, { "type": "text", "value": [ { "text": "How does this affect per capita emissions from international flights? The adjusted figures are shown in the chart here.", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "parseErrors": [] }, { "type": "text", "value": [ { "text": "As we would expect, countries which are tourist hotspots see the largest change. Portugal\u2019s emissions, for example, fall from 388 to just 60 kilograms per person. Portuguese locals are responsible for much fewer travel emissions than outgoing tourists. Spanish emissions fall from 335 to 77 kilograms per person.", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "parseErrors": [] }, { "type": "text", "value": [ { "text": "On the other hand, countries where the locals travel elsewhere see a large increase. In the UK, they almost double from 422 to 818 kilograms.", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "parseErrors": [] } ], "type": "sticky-right", "right": [ { "url": "https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/per-capita-co2-international-flights-adjusted?stackMode=absolute&time=latest&region=World", "type": "chart", "parseErrors": [] } ], "parseErrors": [] }, { "text": [ { "text": "Per capita emissions from domestic ", "spanType": "span-simple-text" }, { "children": [ { "text": "and ", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "spanType": "span-italic" }, { "text": "international flights", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "type": "heading", "level": 2, "parseErrors": [] }, { "left": [ { "type": "text", "value": [ { "text": "Let\u2019s combine per capita emissions from domestic and international travel to compare the total footprint from flying.", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "parseErrors": [] }, { "type": "text", "value": [ { "text": "This is shown in the interactive map ", "spanType": "span-simple-text" }, { "children": [ { "text": "[we\u2019ve taken the adjusted international figures \u2013 you can find the\u00a0 combined figures without tourism-adjustment ", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "spanType": "span-italic" }, { "url": "https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/per-capita-co2-aviation", "children": [ { "children": [ { "children": [ { "text": "here", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "spanType": "span-italic" } ], "spanType": "span-bold" } ], "spanType": "span-link" }, { "children": [ { "text": "].\u00a0", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "spanType": "span-italic" } ], "parseErrors": [] }, { "type": "text", "value": [ { "text": "The global average emissions from aviation were 103 kilograms. The inequality in emissions across the world becomes clear when this is broken down by country.\u00a0", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "parseErrors": [] }, { "type": "text", "value": [ { "text": "At the top of the table lies the United Arab Emirates \u2013 each person emits close to two tonnes \u2013 1950 kg \u2013 of CO", "spanType": "span-simple-text" }, { "children": [ { "text": "2", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "spanType": "span-subscript" }, { "text": " from flying each year. That\u2019s 200 times the global average.\u00a0 This was followed by Singapore (1173 kilograms); Iceland (1070 kg); Finland (1000 kg); and Australia (878 kilograms).\u00a0", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "parseErrors": [] }, { "type": "text", "value": [ { "text": "To put this into perspective: a return flight (in economy class) from London to Dubai/United Arab Emirates would emit around one tonne of CO", "spanType": "span-simple-text" }, { "children": [ { "text": "2", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "spanType": "span-subscript" }, { "text": ".{ref}We can calculate this by taking the standard CO2 conversion factors for travel, used in the ", "spanType": "span-simple-text" }, { "url": "https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/greenhouse-gas-reporting-conversion-factors-2019", "children": [ { "text": "UK greenhouse gas accounting framework", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "spanType": "span-link" }, { "text": ". For a long-haul flight in economy class, around 0.079 kilograms of CO", "spanType": "span-simple-text" }, { "children": [ { "text": "2", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "spanType": "span-subscript" }, { "url": "https://ourworldindata.org/travel-carbon-footprint", "children": [ { "text": "are emitted", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "spanType": "span-link" }, { "text": " per passenger-kilometer. This means that you would travel around 12,600 kilometers to emit one tonne [1,000,000 / 0.079 kg = 12,626 kilometers]. Since we\u2019re taking a return flight, the travel distance would be half of that figure: around 6300 kilometers. The direct distance from ", "spanType": "span-simple-text" }, { "url": "https://www.distance.to/London/Dubai,ARE", "children": [ { "text": "London to Dubai", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "spanType": "span-link" }, { "text": " is around 5,500 kilometers. Depending on the flight path, it\u2019s likely to be slightly longer than this, and in the range of 5500 to 6500 kilometers.", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "parseErrors": [] }, { "type": "text", "value": [ { "text": "Note that in this case we\u2019re looking at CO", "spanType": "span-simple-text" }, { "children": [ { "text": "2", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "spanType": "span-subscript" }, { "text": " emissions ", "spanType": "span-simple-text" }, { "children": [ { "text": "without", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "spanType": "span-italic" }, { "text": " the extra warming effects of these emissions at high altitudes. This is to allow us to compare with the ICCT figures by country presented in this article. You find additional data on how the footprint of flying is impacted by non-CO", "spanType": "span-simple-text" }, { "children": [ { "text": "2", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "spanType": "span-subscript" }, { "text": " warming effects", "spanType": "span-simple-text" }, { "url": "https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/carbon-footprint-travel-mode", "children": [ { "text": " ", "spanType": "span-simple-text" }, { "children": [ { "text": "here", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "spanType": "span-bold" } ], "spanType": "span-link" }, { "text": ".{/ref} So the two-tonne average for the UAE is equivalent to around two return trips to London.", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "parseErrors": [] }, { "type": "text", "value": [ { "text": "In many countries, most people do not fly at all. The average Indian emits just 18 kilograms from aviation \u2013 this is much, much less than even a short-haul flight which confirms that most did not take a flight.", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "parseErrors": [] }, { "type": "text", "value": [ { "text": "In fact, we can compare just the aviation emissions for the top countries to the ", "spanType": "span-simple-text" }, { "children": [ { "text": "total", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "spanType": "span-italic" }, { "text": " carbon footprint of citizens elsewhere. The average UAE citizen emits 1950 kilograms of CO", "spanType": "span-simple-text" }, { "children": [ { "text": "2", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "spanType": "span-subscript" }, { "text": " from flying. This is the same as the ", "spanType": "span-simple-text" }, { "children": [ { "text": "total", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "spanType": "span-italic" }, { "url": "https://ourworldindata.org/explorers/co2?tab=chart&xScale=linear&yScale=linear&stackMode=absolute&endpointsOnly=0&year=latest&time=1858..2018&country=~India&region=World&Gas%20=CO%E2%82%82&Accounting%20=Production-based&Fuel%20=Total&Count%20=Per%20capita&Relative%20to%20world%20total%20=", "children": [ { "text": "CO", "spanType": "span-simple-text" }, { "children": [ { "text": "2", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "spanType": "span-subscript" }, { "text": " footprint of the average Indian", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "spanType": "span-link" }, { "text": " (including everything from electricity to road transport, heating and industry). Or, to take a more extreme example, 200 times the total footprint of the average Nigerien, Ugandan or Ethiopian, which ", "spanType": "span-simple-text" }, { "url": "https://ourworldindata.org/explorers/co2?tab=chart&xScale=linear&yScale=linear&stackMode=absolute&endpointsOnly=0&year=latest&time=1958..2018&country=Niger~Uganda~Ethiopia&region=World&Gas%20=CO%E2%82%82&Accounting%20=Production-based&Fuel%20=Total&Count%20=Per%20capita&Relative%20to%20world%20total%20=", "children": [ { "text": "have per capita emissions", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "spanType": "span-link" }, { "text": " of around 100 kilograms.\u00a0", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "parseErrors": [] }, { "type": "text", "value": [ { "text": "This again emphasises the large difference between the global average and the individual emissions of people who fly. Aviation contributes a few percent of total CO", "spanType": "span-simple-text" }, { "children": [ { "text": "2", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "spanType": "span-subscript" }, { "text": " emissions each year \u2013 this is not insignificant, but far from being the largest sector to tackle. Yet from the perspective of the individual, flying ", "spanType": "span-simple-text" }, { "children": [ { "text": "is", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "spanType": "span-italic" }, { "text": " often one of the largest chunks of our carbon footprint. The average rich person emits tonnes of CO", "spanType": "span-simple-text" }, { "children": [ { "text": "2", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "spanType": "span-subscript" }, { "text": " from flying each year \u2013 this is equivalent to the ", "spanType": "span-simple-text" }, { "children": [ { "text": "total", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "spanType": "span-italic" }, { "text": " carbon footprint of tens or hundreds of people in many countries of the world.", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "parseErrors": [] } ], "type": "sticky-right", "right": [ { "url": "https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/per-capita-co2-aviation-adjusted?stackMode=absolute&region=World", "type": "chart", "parseErrors": [] }, { "text": [ { "text": "Related charts:", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "type": "heading", "level": 5, "parseErrors": [] }, { "url": "https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/per-capita-co2-aviation", "type": "prominent-link", "title": "Per capita CO\u2082 emissions from aviation (without tourism adjustment)", "description": "", "parseErrors": [] }, { "url": "https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/co2-emissions-aviation", "type": "prominent-link", "title": "Total CO\u2082 emissions from aviation", "description": "", "parseErrors": [] }, { "url": "https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/share-co2-emissions-aviation", "type": "prominent-link", "title": "Share of global CO\u2082 emissions from aviation", "description": "", "parseErrors": [] } ], "parseErrors": [] } ], "type": "article", "title": "Where in the world do people have the highest CO2 emissions from flying?", "authors": [ "Hannah Ritchie" ], "excerpt": "Globally, aviation accounts for around 2.5% of CO\u2082 emissions. But for many, it accounts for a much larger share.", "dateline": "November 9, 2020", "subtitle": "Globally, aviation accounts for around 2.5% of CO\u2082 emissions. But for many, it accounts for a much larger share.", "sidebar-toc": false, "featured-image": "per-capita-co2-aviation-adjusted.png" }, "createdAt": "2020-10-08T12:11:32.000Z", "published": false, "updatedAt": "2021-09-24T12:40:26.000Z", "revisionId": null, "publishedAt": "2020-11-09T11:00:00.000Z", "relatedCharts": [], "publicationContext": "listed" }	{ "errors": [], "numBlocks": 12, "numErrors": 0, "wpTagCounts": { "html": 5, "column": 8, "columns": 4, "heading": 7, "paragraph": 29, "owid/prominent-link": 7 }, "htmlTagCounts": { "p": 30, "h4": 4, "h5": 3, "div": 13, "iframe": 4 } }	2020-11-09 11:00:00	2024-02-16 14:22:50	1aqWoj1FRGfayQcBPSDaanAek94OY5fwMIzXynsRMW20	[ "Hannah Ritchie" ]	Globally, aviation accounts for around 2.5% of CO₂ emissions. But for many, it accounts for a much larger share.	2020-10-08 12:11:32	2021-09-24 12:40:26	https://ourworldindata.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/per-capita-co2-aviation-adjusted.png	{}	Our World in Data presents the data and research to make progress against the world’s largest problems. This blog post draws on data and research discussed in our entries on [CO2 and Greenhouse Gas Emissions](https://ourworldindata.org/co2-and-other-greenhouse-gas-emissions) and [Energy](https://ourworldindata.org/energy). Aviation accounts [for around 2.5%](https://ourworldindata.org/co2-emissions-from-aviation) of global carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions. But if you are someone who does fly, air travel will make up a much larger share of your personal carbon footprint. The fact that aviation is relatively small for global emissions as a whole, but of large importance for individuals that fly is due to large inequalities in the world. Most people in the world do not take flights. There is no global reliable figure, but often cited estimates suggest that more than 80% of the global population have never flown.{ref}There is no global database available on _who_ in the world flies each year. Passenger information is maintained by private airlines. Therefore, deriving estimates of this exact percentage is challenging. The most-cited estimate I’ve seen on this is that around 80% of the world population have never flown. This figure seems to circle back to a [quoted estimate](https://www.cnbc.com/2017/12/07/boeing-ceo-80-percent-of-people-never-flown-for-us-that-means-growth.html#:~:text=%E2%80%9CLess%20than%2020%20percent%20of,the%20entire%20economy%2C%20Muilenburg%20said.) from the Boeing CEO. Even in some of the world’s richest countries, a large share of the population do not fly frequently. Gallup [survey data](https://news.gallup.com/poll/1579/airlines.aspx) from the United States suggests that in 2015, half of the population did not take a flight. Survey data from the UK [provides similar estimates](http://publicapps.caa.co.uk/docs/33/CAA%20Aviation%20Consumer%20survey%20--%205th%20wave%20report%20FINAL%20(2).pdf): 46% had not flown in the previous year.{/ref} How do emissions from aviation vary across the world? Where do people have the highest footprint from flying? ## Per capita emissions from domestic flights The first and most straightforward comparison is to look at emissions from _domestic_ aviation – that is, flights that depart and arrive in the same country. This is easiest to compare because domestic aviation is counted in each country’s inventory of greenhouse gas emissions. International flights, on the other hand, are not attributed to specific countries – partly because of contention as to who should take responsibility (should it be the country of departure or arrival? What about layover flights?). In the chart here we see the average per capita emissions from domestic flights in 2018. This data is sourced from the _International Council on Clean Transportation_ – we then used [UN population estimates](https://population.un.org/wpp/) to calculate per capita figures.{ref}Graver, B., Zhang, K., & Rutherford, D. (2019). [CO2 emissions from commercial aviation, 2018](https://theicct.org/publications/co2-emissions-commercial-aviation-2018). _The International Council of Clean Transportation_.{/ref},{ref}Note that this gives us _mean_ per capita emissions, which does not account for in-country inequalities in the amount of flights people take.{/ref} We see large differences in emissions from domestic flights across the world. In the United States the average person emits around 386 kilograms of CO2 each year from internal flights. This is followed by Australia (267 kg); Norway (209 kg); New Zealand (174 kg); and Canada (168 kg). Compare this with countries at the bottom of the table – many across Africa, Asia, and Eastern Europe in particular emit less than one kilogram per person – just 0.8 kilograms; or 0.14 kilograms in Rwanda. For very small countries where there are no internal commercial flights, domestic emissions are of course, zero. There are some obvious factors that explain some of these cross-country differences. Firstly, countries that are richer [are more likely](https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/per-capita-co2-domestic-aviation-vs-gdp) to have higher emissions because people can afford to fly. Second, countries that have a larger land mass may have more internal flights – and indeed we see a [correlation](https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/per-capita-co2-domestic-aviation-vs-land-area) between land area and domestic flight emissions; in small countries people are more likely to travel by other means such as car or train. And third, countries that are more geographically-isolated – such as Australia and New Zealand – may have more internal travel. <Chart url="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/per-capita-co2-domestic-aviation"/> ##### Related charts: ### Total CO₂ emissions from domestic aviation https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/co2-emissions-domestic-aviation ### Share of global CO₂ emissions from domestic aviation https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/share-global-co2-domestic-aviation ## Per capita emissions from international flights Allocating emissions from international flights is more complex. International databases report these emissions separately as a category termed ‘bunker fuels’. The term ‘bunker fuel’ is used to describe emissions which come from international transport – either aviation or shipping. Because they are [not counted towards](https://unfccc.int/topics/mitigation/workstreams/emissions-from-international-transport-bunker-fuels) any particular country these emissions are also not taken into account in the goals that are set by countries in international treaties like the Kyoto protocol or the Paris Agreement.{ref}Larsson, J., Kamb, A., Nässén, J., & Åkerman, J. (2018). [Measuring greenhouse gas emissions from international air travel of a country’s residents methodological development and application for Sweden](https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0195925517303116). _Environmental Impact Assessment Review_, _72_, 137-144.{/ref} But if we wanted to allocate them to a particular country, how would we do it? Who do emissions from international flights belong to: the country that owns the airline; the country of departure; the country of arrival? Let’s first take a look at how emissions would compare if we allocated them to the country of _departure_. This means, for example, that emissions from any flight that departs from Spain are counted towards Spain’s total. In the chart here we see international aviation emissions in per capita terms. Some of the largest emitters per person in 2018 were Iceland (3.5 tonnes of CO2 per person); Qatar (2.5 tonnes); United Arab Emirates (2.2 tonnes); Singapore (1.7 tonnes); and Malta (992 kilograms). Again, we see large inequalities in emissions across the world – in many lower-income countries per capita emissions are only a few kilograms: 6 kilograms in India, 4 kilograms in Nigeria; and only 1.4 kilograms in the Democratic Republic of Congo. <Chart url="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/per-capita-co2-international-aviation?stackMode=absolute&time=latest&region=World"/> ##### Related charts: ### Total CO₂ emissions from international aviation https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/co2-international-aviation ### Share of global CO₂ emissions from international aviation https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/share-co2-international-aviation ## Per capita emissions from international flights – adjusted for tourism The above allocation of international aviation emissions to the country of _departure_ raises some issues. It is not an accurate reflection of the local population of countries that rely a lot on tourism, for example. Most of the departing flights from these countries are carrying visiting tourists rather than locals. One way to correct for this is to adjust these figures for the ratio of inbound to outbound travellers. This approach was applied [in an analysis](https://theicct.org/blog/staff/not-every-tonne-of-aviation-CO2) by Sola Zheng for the _International Council on Clean Transportation_. This attempts to distinguish between locals traveling abroad and foreign visitors traveling to that country on the same flight.{ref}A country with a ratio greater than one will have more incoming travellers than outgoing locals i.e. they are more of a hotspot for tourism.{/ref} For example, if we calculated that Spain had 50% more incoming than outgoing travellers, we would reduce its per capita footprint from flying by 50%. If the UK had 75% more outgoing travellers than incoming, we’d increase its footprint by 75%. We have replicated this approach and applied this adjustment to these figures by calculating the [inbound:outbound tourist ratio](https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/ratio-of-inbound-to-outbound-tourists) based on flight departures and arrival data from the [World Bank](https://datacatalog.worldbank.org/dataset/world-development-indicators). How does this affect per capita emissions from international flights? The adjusted figures are shown in the chart here. As we would expect, countries which are tourist hotspots see the largest change. Portugal’s emissions, for example, fall from 388 to just 60 kilograms per person. Portuguese locals are responsible for much fewer travel emissions than outgoing tourists. Spanish emissions fall from 335 to 77 kilograms per person. On the other hand, countries where the locals travel elsewhere see a large increase. In the UK, they almost double from 422 to 818 kilograms. <Chart url="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/per-capita-co2-international-flights-adjusted?stackMode=absolute&time=latest&region=World"/> ## Per capita emissions from domestic _and _international flights Let’s combine per capita emissions from domestic and international travel to compare the total footprint from flying. This is shown in the interactive map _[we’ve taken the adjusted international figures – you can find the combined figures without tourism-adjustment _[_here_](https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/per-capita-co2-aviation)_]. _ The global average emissions from aviation were 103 kilograms. The inequality in emissions across the world becomes clear when this is broken down by country. At the top of the table lies the United Arab Emirates – each person emits close to two tonnes – 1950 kg – of CO2 from flying each year. That’s 200 times the global average. This was followed by Singapore (1173 kilograms); Iceland (1070 kg); Finland (1000 kg); and Australia (878 kilograms). To put this into perspective: a return flight (in economy class) from London to Dubai/United Arab Emirates would emit around one tonne of CO2.{ref}We can calculate this by taking the standard CO2 conversion factors for travel, used in the [UK greenhouse gas accounting framework](https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/greenhouse-gas-reporting-conversion-factors-2019). For a long-haul flight in economy class, around 0.079 kilograms of CO2[are emitted](https://ourworldindata.org/travel-carbon-footprint) per passenger-kilometer. This means that you would travel around 12,600 kilometers to emit one tonne [1,000,000 / 0.079 kg = 12,626 kilometers]. Since we’re taking a return flight, the travel distance would be half of that figure: around 6300 kilometers. The direct distance from [London to Dubai](https://www.distance.to/London/Dubai,ARE) is around 5,500 kilometers. Depending on the flight path, it’s likely to be slightly longer than this, and in the range of 5500 to 6500 kilometers. Note that in this case we’re looking at CO2 emissions _without_ the extra warming effects of these emissions at high altitudes. This is to allow us to compare with the ICCT figures by country presented in this article. You find additional data on how the footprint of flying is impacted by non-CO2 warming effects[ here](https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/carbon-footprint-travel-mode).{/ref} So the two-tonne average for the UAE is equivalent to around two return trips to London. In many countries, most people do not fly at all. The average Indian emits just 18 kilograms from aviation – this is much, much less than even a short-haul flight which confirms that most did not take a flight. In fact, we can compare just the aviation emissions for the top countries to the _total_ carbon footprint of citizens elsewhere. The average UAE citizen emits 1950 kilograms of CO2 from flying. This is the same as the _total_[CO2 footprint of the average Indian](https://ourworldindata.org/explorers/co2?tab=chart&xScale=linear&yScale=linear&stackMode=absolute&endpointsOnly=0&year=latest&time=1858..2018&country=~India&region=World&Gas%20=CO%E2%82%82&Accounting%20=Production-based&Fuel%20=Total&Count%20=Per%20capita&Relative%20to%20world%20total%20=) (including everything from electricity to road transport, heating and industry). Or, to take a more extreme example, 200 times the total footprint of the average Nigerien, Ugandan or Ethiopian, which [have per capita emissions](https://ourworldindata.org/explorers/co2?tab=chart&xScale=linear&yScale=linear&stackMode=absolute&endpointsOnly=0&year=latest&time=1958..2018&country=Niger~Uganda~Ethiopia&region=World&Gas%20=CO%E2%82%82&Accounting%20=Production-based&Fuel%20=Total&Count%20=Per%20capita&Relative%20to%20world%20total%20=) of around 100 kilograms. This again emphasises the large difference between the global average and the individual emissions of people who fly. Aviation contributes a few percent of total CO2 emissions each year – this is not insignificant, but far from being the largest sector to tackle. Yet from the perspective of the individual, flying _is_ often one of the largest chunks of our carbon footprint. The average rich person emits tonnes of CO2 from flying each year – this is equivalent to the _total_ carbon footprint of tens or hundreds of people in many countries of the world. <Chart url="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/per-capita-co2-aviation-adjusted?stackMode=absolute&region=World"/> ##### Related charts: ### Per capita CO₂ emissions from aviation (without tourism adjustment) https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/per-capita-co2-aviation ### Total CO₂ emissions from aviation https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/co2-emissions-aviation ### Share of global CO₂ emissions from aviation https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/share-co2-emissions-aviation	{ "id": 36880, "date": "2020-11-09T11:00:00", "guid": { "rendered": "https://owid.cloud/?p=36880" }, "link": "https://owid.cloud/carbon-footprint-flying", "meta": { "owid_publication_context_meta_field": { "latest": true, "homepage": true, "immediate_newsletter": true } }, "slug": "carbon-footprint-flying", "tags": [], "type": "post", "title": { "rendered": "Where in the world do people have the highest CO2 emissions from flying?" }, "_links": { "self": [ { "href": "https://owid.cloud/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/36880" } ], "about": [ { "href": "https://owid.cloud/wp-json/wp/v2/types/post" } ], "author": [ { "href": "https://owid.cloud/wp-json/wp/v2/users/17", "embeddable": true } ], "curies": [ { "href": "https://api.w.org/{rel}", "name": "wp", "templated": true } ], "replies": [ { "href": "https://owid.cloud/wp-json/wp/v2/comments?post=36880", "embeddable": true } ], "wp:term": [ { "href": "https://owid.cloud/wp-json/wp/v2/categories?post=36880", "taxonomy": "category", "embeddable": true }, { "href": "https://owid.cloud/wp-json/wp/v2/tags?post=36880", "taxonomy": "post_tag", "embeddable": true } ], "collection": [ { "href": "https://owid.cloud/wp-json/wp/v2/posts" } ], "wp:attachment": [ { "href": "https://owid.cloud/wp-json/wp/v2/media?parent=36880" } ], "version-history": [ { "href": "https://owid.cloud/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/36880/revisions", "count": 7 } ], "wp:featuredmedia": [ { "href": "https://owid.cloud/wp-json/wp/v2/media/37380", "embeddable": true } ], "predecessor-version": [ { "id": 45134, "href": "https://owid.cloud/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/36880/revisions/45134" } ] }, "author": 17, "format": "standard", "status": "publish", "sticky": false, "content": { "rendered": "\n<div class=\"blog-info\">\n<p>Our World in Data presents the data and research to make progress against the world\u2019s largest problems.<br>This blog post draws on data and research discussed in our entries on <strong><a href=\"https://ourworldindata.org/co2-and-other-greenhouse-gas-emissions\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">CO<sub>2</sub> and Greenhouse Gas Emissions</a></strong> and <strong><a href=\"https://ourworldindata.org/energy\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Energy</a></strong>.</p>\n</div>\n\n\n\n<p>Aviation accounts <a href=\"https://ourworldindata.org/co2-emissions-from-aviation\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">for around 2.5%</a> of global carbon dioxide (CO<sub>2</sub>) emissions. But if you are someone who does fly, air travel will make up a much larger share of your personal carbon footprint.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>The fact that aviation is relatively small for global emissions as a whole, but of large importance for individuals that fly is due to large inequalities in the world. Most people in the  world do not take flights. There is no global reliable figure, but often cited estimates suggest that more than 80% of the global population have never flown.{ref}There is no global database available on <em>who</em> in the world flies each year. Passenger information is maintained by private airlines. Therefore, deriving estimates of this exact percentage is challenging. The most-cited estimate I\u2019ve seen on this is that around 80% of the world population have never flown. This figure seems to circle back to a <a href=\"https://www.cnbc.com/2017/12/07/boeing-ceo-80-percent-of-people-never-flown-for-us-that-means-growth.html#:~:text=%E2%80%9CLess%20than%2020%20percent%20of,the%20entire%20economy%2C%20Muilenburg%20said.\">quoted estimate</a> from the Boeing CEO.<br><br>Even in some of the world\u2019s richest countries, a large share of the population do not fly frequently. Gallup <a href=\"https://news.gallup.com/poll/1579/airlines.aspx\">survey data</a> from the United States suggests that in 2015, half of the population did not take a flight. Survey data from the UK <a href=\"http://publicapps.caa.co.uk/docs/33/CAA%20Aviation%20Consumer%20survey%20--%205th%20wave%20report%20FINAL%20(2).pdf\">provides similar estimates</a>: 46% had not flown in the previous year.{/ref}</p>\n\n\n\n<p>How do emissions from aviation vary across the world? Where do people have the highest footprint from flying?</p>\n\n\n\n<h4>Per capita emissions from domestic flights</h4>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-columns\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-column\">\n<p>The first and most straightforward comparison is to look at emissions from <em>domestic</em> aviation \u2013 that is, flights that depart and arrive in the same country. </p>\n\n\n\n<p>This is easiest to compare because domestic aviation is counted in each country\u2019s inventory of greenhouse gas emissions. International flights, on the other hand, are not attributed to specific countries \u2013 partly because of contention as to who should take responsibility (should it be the country of departure or arrival? What about layover flights?).</p>\n\n\n\n<p>In the chart here we see the average per capita emissions from domestic flights in 2018. This data is sourced from the <em>International Council on Clean Transportation</em> \u2013 we then used <a href=\"https://population.un.org/wpp/\">UN population estimates</a> to calculate per capita figures.{ref}Graver, B., Zhang, K., & Rutherford, D. (2019). <a href=\"https://theicct.org/publications/co2-emissions-commercial-aviation-2018\">CO2 emissions from commercial aviation, 2018</a>. <em>The International Council of Clean Transportation</em>.{/ref}<sup>,</sup>{ref}Note that this gives us <em>mean</em> per capita emissions, which  does not account for in-country inequalities in the amount of flights people take.{/ref}</p>\n\n\n\n<p>We see large differences in emissions from domestic flights across the world. In the United States the average person emits around 386 kilograms of CO<sub>2</sub> each year from internal flights. This is followed by Australia (267 kg); Norway (209 kg); New Zealand (174 kg); and Canada (168 kg). Compare this with  countries at the bottom of the table \u2013 many across Africa, Asia, and Eastern Europe in particular emit less than one kilogram per person \u2013 just 0.8 kilograms; or 0.14 kilograms in Rwanda. For very small countries where there are no internal commercial flights, domestic emissions are of course, zero.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>There are some obvious factors that explain some of these cross-country differences. Firstly, countries that are richer <a href=\"https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/per-capita-co2-domestic-aviation-vs-gdp\">are more likely</a> to have higher emissions because people can afford to fly. Second, countries that have a larger land mass may have more internal flights \u2013 and indeed we see a <a href=\"https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/per-capita-co2-domestic-aviation-vs-land-area\">correlation</a> between land area and domestic flight emissions; in small countries people are more likely to travel by other means such as car or train.  And third, countries that are more geographically-isolated \u2013 such as Australia and New Zealand \u2013 may have more internal travel.</p>\n</div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-column\">\n<iframe src=\"https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/per-capita-co2-domestic-aviation\" loading=\"lazy\" style=\"width: 100%; height: 600px; border: 0px none;\"></iframe>\n\n\n\n<h5>Related charts:</h5>\n\n\n <block type=\"prominent-link\" style=\"is-style-thin\">\n <link-url>https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/co2-emissions-domestic-aviation</link-url>\n <title>Total CO\u2082 emissions from domestic aviation</title>\n <content></content>\n <figure></figure>\n </block>\n\n <block type=\"prominent-link\" style=\"is-style-thin\">\n <link-url>https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/share-global-co2-domestic-aviation</link-url>\n <title>Share of global CO\u2082 emissions from domestic aviation</title>\n <content></content>\n <figure></figure>\n </block></div>\n</div>\n\n\n\n<h4>Per capita emissions from international flights</h4>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-columns\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-column\">\n<p>Allocating emissions from international flights is more complex. International databases report these emissions separately as a category termed \u2018bunker fuels\u2019. The term \u2018bunker fuel\u2019 is used to describe emissions which come from international transport \u2013 either aviation or shipping.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Because they are <a href=\"https://unfccc.int/topics/mitigation/workstreams/emissions-from-international-transport-bunker-fuels\">not counted towards</a> any particular country these emissions are also not taken into account in the goals that are set by countries in international treaties like the Kyoto protocol or the Paris Agreement.{ref}Larsson, J., Kamb, A., N\u00e4ss\u00e9n, J., & \u00c5kerman, J. (2018). <a href=\"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0195925517303116\">Measuring greenhouse gas emissions from international air travel of a country\u2019s residents methodological development and application for Sweden</a>. <em>Environmental Impact Assessment Review</em>, <em>72</em>, 137-144.{/ref}</p>\n\n\n\n<p>But if we wanted to allocate them to a particular country, how would we do it? Who do emissions from international flights belong to: the country that owns the airline; the country of departure; the country of arrival?</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Let\u2019s first take a look at how emissions would compare if we allocated them to the country of <em>departure</em>. This means, for example, that emissions from any flight that departs from Spain are counted towards Spain\u2019s total. In the chart here we see international aviation emissions in per capita terms.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Some of the largest emitters per person in 2018 were Iceland (3.5 tonnes of CO<sub>2</sub> per person); Qatar (2.5 tonnes); United Arab Emirates (2.2 tonnes); Singapore (1.7 tonnes); and Malta (992 kilograms). </p>\n\n\n\n<p>Again, we see large inequalities in emissions across the world \u2013 in many lower-income countries per capita emissions are only a few kilograms: 6 kilograms in India, 4 kilograms in Nigeria; and only 1.4 kilograms in the Democratic Republic of Congo.</p>\n</div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-column\">\n<iframe src=\"https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/per-capita-co2-international-aviation?stackMode=absolute&time=latest&region=World\" loading=\"lazy\" style=\"width: 100%; height: 600px; border: 0px none;\"></iframe>\n\n\n\n<h5>Related charts:</h5>\n\n\n <block type=\"prominent-link\" style=\"is-style-thin\">\n <link-url>https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/co2-international-aviation</link-url>\n <title>Total CO\u2082 emissions from international aviation</title>\n <content></content>\n <figure></figure>\n </block>\n\n <block type=\"prominent-link\" style=\"is-style-thin\">\n <link-url>https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/share-co2-international-aviation</link-url>\n <title>Share of global CO\u2082 emissions from international aviation</title>\n <content></content>\n <figure></figure>\n </block></div>\n</div>\n\n\n\n<h4>Per capita emissions from international flights \u2013 adjusted for tourism</h4>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-columns\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-column\">\n<p>The above allocation of international aviation emissions to the country of <em>departure</em> raises some issues. It is not an accurate reflection of the local population of countries that rely a lot on tourism, for example. Most of the departing flights from these countries are carrying visiting tourists rather than locals. </p>\n\n\n\n<p>One way to correct for this is to adjust these figures for the ratio of inbound to outbound travellers. This approach was applied <a href=\"https://theicct.org/blog/staff/not-every-tonne-of-aviation-CO2\">in an analysis</a> by Sola Zheng for the <em>International Council on Clean Transportation</em>. This attempts to distinguish between locals traveling abroad and foreign visitors traveling to that country on the same flight.{ref}A country with a ratio greater than one will have more incoming travellers than outgoing locals i.e. they are more of a hotspot for tourism.{/ref} For example, if we calculated that Spain had 50% more incoming than outgoing travellers, we would reduce its per capita footprint from flying by 50%. If the UK had 75% more outgoing travellers than incoming, we\u2019d increase its footprint by 75%.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>We have replicated this approach and  applied this adjustment to these figures by calculating the <a href=\"https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/ratio-of-inbound-to-outbound-tourists\">inbound:outbound tourist ratio</a> based on flight departures and arrival data from the <a href=\"https://datacatalog.worldbank.org/dataset/world-development-indicators\">World Bank</a>. </p>\n\n\n\n<p>How does this affect per capita emissions from international flights? The adjusted figures are shown in the chart here.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>As we would expect, countries which are tourist hotspots see the largest change. Portugal\u2019s emissions, for example, fall from 388 to just 60 kilograms per person. Portuguese locals are responsible for much fewer travel emissions than outgoing tourists. Spanish emissions fall from 335 to 77 kilograms per person.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>On the other hand, countries where the locals travel elsewhere see a large increase. In the UK, they almost double from 422 to 818 kilograms.</p>\n</div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-column\">\n<iframe src=\"https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/per-capita-co2-international-flights-adjusted?stackMode=absolute&time=latest&region=World\" loading=\"lazy\" style=\"width: 100%; height: 600px; border: 0px none;\"></iframe>\n</div>\n</div>\n\n\n\n<h4>Per capita emissions from domestic <em>and </em>international flights</h4>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-columns\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-column\">\n<p>Let\u2019s combine per capita emissions from domestic and international travel to compare the total footprint from flying.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>This is shown in the interactive map <em>[we\u2019ve taken the adjusted international figures \u2013 you can find the  combined figures without tourism-adjustment </em><a href=\"https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/per-capita-co2-aviation\"><strong><em>here</em></strong></a><em>]. </em></p>\n\n\n\n<p>The global average emissions from aviation were 103 kilograms. The inequality in emissions across the world becomes clear when this is broken down by country. </p>\n\n\n\n<p>At the top of the table lies the United Arab Emirates \u2013 each person emits close to two tonnes \u2013 1950 kg \u2013 of CO<sub>2</sub> from flying each year. That\u2019s 200 times the global average.  This was followed by Singapore (1173 kilograms); Iceland (1070 kg); Finland (1000 kg); and Australia (878 kilograms). </p>\n\n\n\n<p>To put this into perspective: a return flight (in economy class) from London to Dubai/United Arab Emirates would emit around one tonne of CO<sub>2</sub>.{ref}We can calculate this by taking the standard CO2 conversion factors for travel, used in the <a href=\"https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/greenhouse-gas-reporting-conversion-factors-2019\">UK greenhouse gas accounting framework</a>. For a long-haul flight in economy class, around 0.079 kilograms of CO<sub>2</sub> <a href=\"https://ourworldindata.org/travel-carbon-footprint\">are emitted</a> per passenger-kilometer. This means that you would travel around 12,600 kilometers to emit one tonne [1,000,000 / 0.079 kg = 12,626 kilometers]. Since we\u2019re taking a return flight, the travel distance would be half of that figure: around 6300 kilometers. The direct distance from <a href=\"https://www.distance.to/London/Dubai,ARE\">London to Dubai</a> is around 5,500 kilometers. Depending on the flight path, it\u2019s likely to be slightly longer than this, and in the range of 5500 to 6500 kilometers.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Note that in this case we\u2019re looking at CO<sub>2</sub> emissions <em>without</em> the extra warming effects of these emissions at high altitudes. This is to allow us to compare with the ICCT figures by country presented in this article. You find additional data on how the footprint of flying is impacted by non-CO<sub>2</sub> warming effects<a href=\"https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/carbon-footprint-travel-mode\"> <strong>here</strong></a>.{/ref} So the two-tonne average for the UAE is equivalent to around two return trips to London.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>In many countries, most people do not fly at all. The average Indian emits just 18 kilograms from aviation \u2013 this is much, much less than even a short-haul flight which confirms that most did not take a flight.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>In fact, we can compare just the aviation emissions for the top countries to the <em>total</em> carbon footprint of citizens elsewhere. The average UAE citizen emits 1950 kilograms of CO<sub>2</sub> from flying. This is the same as the <em>total</em> <a href=\"https://ourworldindata.org/explorers/co2?tab=chart&xScale=linear&yScale=linear&stackMode=absolute&endpointsOnly=0&year=latest&time=1858..2018&country=~India&region=World&Gas%20=CO%E2%82%82&Accounting%20=Production-based&Fuel%20=Total&Count%20=Per%20capita&Relative%20to%20world%20total%20=\">CO<sub>2</sub> footprint of the average Indian</a> (including everything from electricity to road transport, heating and industry). Or, to take a more extreme example, 200 times the total footprint of the average Nigerien, Ugandan or Ethiopian, which <a href=\"https://ourworldindata.org/explorers/co2?tab=chart&xScale=linear&yScale=linear&stackMode=absolute&endpointsOnly=0&year=latest&time=1958..2018&country=Niger~Uganda~Ethiopia&region=World&Gas%20=CO%E2%82%82&Accounting%20=Production-based&Fuel%20=Total&Count%20=Per%20capita&Relative%20to%20world%20total%20=\">have per capita emissions</a> of around 100 kilograms. </p>\n\n\n\n<p>This again emphasises the large difference between the global average and the individual emissions of people who fly. Aviation contributes a few percent of total CO<sub>2</sub> emissions each year \u2013 this is not insignificant, but far from being the largest sector to tackle. Yet from the perspective of the individual, flying <em>is</em> often one of the largest chunks of our carbon footprint. The average rich person emits tonnes of CO<sub>2</sub> from flying each year \u2013 this is equivalent to the <em>total</em> carbon footprint of tens or hundreds of people in many countries of the world.</p>\n</div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-column\">\n<iframe src=\"https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/per-capita-co2-aviation-adjusted?stackMode=absolute&region=World\" loading=\"lazy\" style=\"width: 100%; height: 600px; border: 0px none;\"></iframe>\n\n\n\n<h5>Related charts:</h5>\n\n\n <block type=\"prominent-link\" style=\"is-style-thin\">\n <link-url>https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/per-capita-co2-aviation</link-url>\n <title>Per capita CO\u2082 emissions from aviation (without tourism adjustment)</title>\n <content></content>\n <figure></figure>\n </block>\n\n <block type=\"prominent-link\" style=\"is-style-thin\">\n <link-url>https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/co2-emissions-aviation</link-url>\n <title>Total CO\u2082 emissions from aviation</title>\n <content></content>\n <figure></figure>\n </block>\n\n <block type=\"prominent-link\" style=\"is-style-thin\">\n <link-url>https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/share-co2-emissions-aviation</link-url>\n <title>Share of global CO\u2082 emissions from aviation</title>\n <content></content>\n <figure></figure>\n </block></div>\n</div>\n", "protected": false }, "excerpt": { "rendered": "Globally, aviation accounts for around 2.5% of CO\u2082 emissions. But for many, it accounts for a much larger share.", "protected": false }, "date_gmt": "2020-11-09T11:00:00", "modified": "2021-09-24T13:40:26", "template": "", "categories": [ 1 ], "ping_status": "closed", "authors_name": [ "Hannah Ritchie" ], "modified_gmt": "2021-09-24T12:40:26", "comment_status": "closed", "featured_media": 37380, "featured_media_paths": { "thumbnail": "/app/uploads/2020/10/per-capita-co2-aviation-adjusted-150x106.png", "medium_large": "/app/uploads/2020/10/per-capita-co2-aviation-adjusted-768x542.png" } }

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Where in the world do people have the highest CO2 emissions from flying?

carbon-footprint-flying

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<div class="blog-info"> <p>Our World in Data presents the data and research to make progress against the world’s largest problems.<br>This blog post draws on data and research discussed in our entries on <strong><a href="https://ourworldindata.org/co2-and-other-greenhouse-gas-emissions" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">CO<sub>2</sub> and Greenhouse Gas Emissions</a></strong> and <strong><a href="https://ourworldindata.org/energy" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Energy</a></strong>.</p> </div>    <p>Aviation accounts <a href="https://ourworldindata.org/co2-emissions-from-aviation" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">for around 2.5%</a> of global carbon dioxide (CO<sub>2</sub>) emissions. But if you are someone who does fly, air travel will make up a much larger share of your personal carbon footprint.</p>   <p>The fact that aviation is relatively small for global emissions as a whole, but of large importance for individuals that fly is due to large inequalities in the world. Most people in the  world do not take flights. There is no global reliable figure, but often cited estimates suggest that more than 80% of the global population have never flown.{ref}There is no global database available on <em>who</em> in the world flies each year. Passenger information is maintained by private airlines. Therefore, deriving estimates of this exact percentage is challenging. The most-cited estimate I’ve seen on this is that around 80% of the world population have never flown. This figure seems to circle back to a <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2017/12/07/boeing-ceo-80-percent-of-people-never-flown-for-us-that-means-growth.html#:~:text=%E2%80%9CLess%20than%2020%20percent%20of,the%20entire%20economy%2C%20Muilenburg%20said.">quoted estimate</a> from the Boeing CEO.<br><br>Even in some of the world’s richest countries, a large share of the population do not fly frequently. Gallup <a href="https://news.gallup.com/poll/1579/airlines.aspx">survey data</a> from the United States suggests that in 2015, half of the population did not take a flight. Survey data from the UK <a href="http://publicapps.caa.co.uk/docs/33/CAA%20Aviation%20Consumer%20survey%20--%205th%20wave%20report%20FINAL%20(2).pdf">provides similar estimates</a>: 46% had not flown in the previous year.{/ref}</p>   <p>How do emissions from aviation vary across the world? Where do people have the highest footprint from flying?</p>   <h4>Per capita emissions from domestic flights</h4>   <div class="wp-block-columns"> <div class="wp-block-column"> <p>The first and most straightforward comparison is to look at emissions from <em>domestic</em> aviation – that is, flights that depart and arrive in the same country. </p>   <p>This is easiest to compare because domestic aviation is counted in each country’s inventory of greenhouse gas emissions. International flights, on the other hand, are not attributed to specific countries – partly because of contention as to who should take responsibility (should it be the country of departure or arrival? What about layover flights?).</p>   <p>In the chart here we see the average per capita emissions from domestic flights in 2018. This data is sourced from the <em>International Council on Clean Transportation</em> – we then used <a href="https://population.un.org/wpp/">UN population estimates</a> to calculate per capita figures.{ref}Graver, B., Zhang, K., & Rutherford, D. (2019). <a href="https://theicct.org/publications/co2-emissions-commercial-aviation-2018">CO2 emissions from commercial aviation, 2018</a>. <em>The International Council of Clean Transportation</em>.{/ref}<sup>,</sup>{ref}Note that this gives us <em>mean</em> per capita emissions, which  does not account for in-country inequalities in the amount of flights people take.{/ref}</p>   <p>We see large differences in emissions from domestic flights across the world. In the United States the average person emits around 386 kilograms of CO<sub>2</sub> each year from internal flights. This is followed by Australia (267 kg); Norway (209 kg); New Zealand (174 kg); and Canada (168 kg). Compare this with  countries at the bottom of the table – many across Africa, Asia, and Eastern Europe in particular emit less than one kilogram per person – just 0.8 kilograms; or 0.14 kilograms in Rwanda. For very small countries where there are no internal commercial flights, domestic emissions are of course, zero.</p>   <p>There are some obvious factors that explain some of these cross-country differences. Firstly, countries that are richer <a href="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/per-capita-co2-domestic-aviation-vs-gdp">are more likely</a> to have higher emissions because people can afford to fly. Second, countries that have a larger land mass may have more internal flights – and indeed we see a <a href="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/per-capita-co2-domestic-aviation-vs-land-area">correlation</a> between land area and domestic flight emissions; in small countries people are more likely to travel by other means such as car or train.  And third, countries that are more geographically-isolated – such as Australia and New Zealand – may have more internal travel.</p> </div>   <div class="wp-block-column"> <iframe src="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/per-capita-co2-domestic-aviation" loading="lazy" style="width: 100%; height: 600px; border: 0px none;"></iframe>   <h5>Related charts:</h5>   </div> </div>   <h4>Per capita emissions from international flights</h4>   <div class="wp-block-columns"> <div class="wp-block-column"> <p>Allocating emissions from international flights is more complex. International databases report these emissions separately as a category termed ‘bunker fuels’. The term ‘bunker fuel’ is used to describe emissions which come from international transport – either aviation or shipping.</p>   <p>Because they are <a href="https://unfccc.int/topics/mitigation/workstreams/emissions-from-international-transport-bunker-fuels">not counted towards</a> any particular country these emissions are also not taken into account in the goals that are set by countries in international treaties like the Kyoto protocol or the Paris Agreement.{ref}Larsson, J., Kamb, A., Nässén, J., & Åkerman, J. (2018). <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0195925517303116">Measuring greenhouse gas emissions from international air travel of a country’s residents methodological development and application for Sweden</a>. <em>Environmental Impact Assessment Review</em>, <em>72</em>, 137-144.{/ref}</p>   <p>But if we wanted to allocate them to a particular country, how would we do it? Who do emissions from international flights belong to: the country that owns the airline; the country of departure; the country of arrival?</p>   <p>Let’s first take a look at how emissions would compare if we allocated them to the country of <em>departure</em>. This means, for example, that emissions from any flight that departs from Spain are counted towards Spain’s total. In the chart here we see international aviation emissions in per capita terms.</p>   <p>Some of the largest emitters per person in 2018 were Iceland (3.5 tonnes of CO<sub>2</sub> per person); Qatar (2.5 tonnes); United Arab Emirates (2.2 tonnes); Singapore (1.7 tonnes); and Malta (992 kilograms). </p>   <p>Again, we see large inequalities in emissions across the world – in many lower-income countries per capita emissions are only a few kilograms: 6 kilograms in India, 4 kilograms in Nigeria; and only 1.4 kilograms in the Democratic Republic of Congo.</p> </div>   <div class="wp-block-column"> <iframe src="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/per-capita-co2-international-aviation?stackMode=absolute&time=latest&region=World" loading="lazy" style="width: 100%; height: 600px; border: 0px none;"></iframe>   <h5>Related charts:</h5>   </div> </div>   <h4>Per capita emissions from international flights – adjusted for tourism</h4>   <div class="wp-block-columns"> <div class="wp-block-column"> <p>The above allocation of international aviation emissions to the country of <em>departure</em> raises some issues. It is not an accurate reflection of the local population of countries that rely a lot on tourism, for example. Most of the departing flights from these countries are carrying visiting tourists rather than locals. </p>   <p>One way to correct for this is to adjust these figures for the ratio of inbound to outbound travellers. This approach was applied <a href="https://theicct.org/blog/staff/not-every-tonne-of-aviation-CO2">in an analysis</a> by Sola Zheng for the <em>International Council on Clean Transportation</em>. This attempts to distinguish between locals traveling abroad and foreign visitors traveling to that country on the same flight.{ref}A country with a ratio greater than one will have more incoming travellers than outgoing locals i.e. they are more of a hotspot for tourism.{/ref} For example, if we calculated that Spain had 50% more incoming than outgoing travellers, we would reduce its per capita footprint from flying by 50%. If the UK had 75% more outgoing travellers than incoming, we’d increase its footprint by 75%.</p>   <p>We have replicated this approach and  applied this adjustment to these figures by calculating the <a href="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/ratio-of-inbound-to-outbound-tourists">inbound:outbound tourist ratio</a> based on flight departures and arrival data from the <a href="https://datacatalog.worldbank.org/dataset/world-development-indicators">World Bank</a>. </p>   <p>How does this affect per capita emissions from international flights? The adjusted figures are shown in the chart here.</p>   <p>As we would expect, countries which are tourist hotspots see the largest change. Portugal’s emissions, for example, fall from 388 to just 60 kilograms per person. Portuguese locals are responsible for much fewer travel emissions than outgoing tourists. Spanish emissions fall from 335 to 77 kilograms per person.</p>   <p>On the other hand, countries where the locals travel elsewhere see a large increase. In the UK, they almost double from 422 to 818 kilograms.</p> </div>   <div class="wp-block-column"> <iframe src="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/per-capita-co2-international-flights-adjusted?stackMode=absolute&time=latest&region=World" loading="lazy" style="width: 100%; height: 600px; border: 0px none;"></iframe> </div> </div>   <h4>Per capita emissions from domestic <em>and </em>international flights</h4>   <div class="wp-block-columns"> <div class="wp-block-column"> <p>Let’s combine per capita emissions from domestic and international travel to compare the total footprint from flying.</p>   <p>This is shown in the interactive map <em>[we’ve taken the adjusted international figures – you can find the  combined figures without tourism-adjustment </em><a href="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/per-capita-co2-aviation"><strong><em>here</em></strong></a><em>]. </em></p>   <p>The global average emissions from aviation were 103 kilograms. The inequality in emissions across the world becomes clear when this is broken down by country. </p>   <p>At the top of the table lies the United Arab Emirates – each person emits close to two tonnes – 1950 kg – of CO<sub>2</sub> from flying each year. That’s 200 times the global average.  This was followed by Singapore (1173 kilograms); Iceland (1070 kg); Finland (1000 kg); and Australia (878 kilograms). </p>   <p>To put this into perspective: a return flight (in economy class) from London to Dubai/United Arab Emirates would emit around one tonne of CO<sub>2</sub>.{ref}We can calculate this by taking the standard CO2 conversion factors for travel, used in the <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/greenhouse-gas-reporting-conversion-factors-2019">UK greenhouse gas accounting framework</a>. For a long-haul flight in economy class, around 0.079 kilograms of CO<sub>2</sub> <a href="https://ourworldindata.org/travel-carbon-footprint">are emitted</a> per passenger-kilometer. This means that you would travel around 12,600 kilometers to emit one tonne [1,000,000 / 0.079 kg = 12,626 kilometers]. Since we’re taking a return flight, the travel distance would be half of that figure: around 6300 kilometers. The direct distance from <a href="https://www.distance.to/London/Dubai,ARE">London to Dubai</a> is around 5,500 kilometers. Depending on the flight path, it’s likely to be slightly longer than this, and in the range of 5500 to 6500 kilometers.</p>   <p>Note that in this case we’re looking at CO<sub>2</sub> emissions <em>without</em> the extra warming effects of these emissions at high altitudes. This is to allow us to compare with the ICCT figures by country presented in this article. You find additional data on how the footprint of flying is impacted by non-CO<sub>2</sub> warming effects<a href="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/carbon-footprint-travel-mode"> <strong>here</strong></a>.{/ref} So the two-tonne average for the UAE is equivalent to around two return trips to London.</p>   <p>In many countries, most people do not fly at all. The average Indian emits just 18 kilograms from aviation – this is much, much less than even a short-haul flight which confirms that most did not take a flight.</p>   <p>In fact, we can compare just the aviation emissions for the top countries to the <em>total</em> carbon footprint of citizens elsewhere. The average UAE citizen emits 1950 kilograms of CO<sub>2</sub> from flying. This is the same as the <em>total</em> <a href="https://ourworldindata.org/explorers/co2?tab=chart&xScale=linear&yScale=linear&stackMode=absolute&endpointsOnly=0&year=latest&time=1858..2018&country=~India&region=World&Gas%20=CO%E2%82%82&Accounting%20=Production-based&Fuel%20=Total&Count%20=Per%20capita&Relative%20to%20world%20total%20=">CO<sub>2</sub> footprint of the average Indian</a> (including everything from electricity to road transport, heating and industry). Or, to take a more extreme example, 200 times the total footprint of the average Nigerien, Ugandan or Ethiopian, which <a href="https://ourworldindata.org/explorers/co2?tab=chart&xScale=linear&yScale=linear&stackMode=absolute&endpointsOnly=0&year=latest&time=1958..2018&country=Niger~Uganda~Ethiopia&region=World&Gas%20=CO%E2%82%82&Accounting%20=Production-based&Fuel%20=Total&Count%20=Per%20capita&Relative%20to%20world%20total%20=">have per capita emissions</a> of around 100 kilograms. </p>   <p>This again emphasises the large difference between the global average and the individual emissions of people who fly. Aviation contributes a few percent of total CO<sub>2</sub> emissions each year – this is not insignificant, but far from being the largest sector to tackle. Yet from the perspective of the individual, flying <em>is</em> often one of the largest chunks of our carbon footprint. The average rich person emits tonnes of CO<sub>2</sub> from flying each year – this is equivalent to the <em>total</em> carbon footprint of tens or hundreds of people in many countries of the world.</p> </div>   <div class="wp-block-column"> <iframe src="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/per-capita-co2-aviation-adjusted?stackMode=absolute&region=World" loading="lazy" style="width: 100%; height: 600px; border: 0px none;"></iframe>   <h5>Related charts:</h5>    </div> </div>

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                                "spanType": "span-link"
                            },
                            {
                                "text": ". ",
                                "spanType": "span-simple-text"
                            },
                            {
                                "children": [
                                    {
                                        "text": "The International Council of Clean Transportation",
                                        "spanType": "span-simple-text"
                                    }
                                ],
                                "spanType": "span-italic"
                            },
                            {
                                "text": ".{/ref}",
                                "spanType": "span-simple-text"
                            },
                            {
                                "children": [
                                    {
                                        "text": ",",
                                        "spanType": "span-simple-text"
                                    }
                                ],
                                "spanType": "span-superscript"
                            },
                            {
                                "text": "{ref}Note that this gives us ",
                                "spanType": "span-simple-text"
                            },
                            {
                                "children": [
                                    {
                                        "text": "mean",
                                        "spanType": "span-simple-text"
                                    }
                                ],
                                "spanType": "span-italic"
                            },
                            {
                                "text": " per capita emissions, which\u00a0 does not account for in-country inequalities in the amount of flights people take.{/ref}",
                                "spanType": "span-simple-text"
                            }
                        ],
                        "parseErrors": []
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                        "type": "text",
                        "value": [
                            {
                                "text": "We see large differences in emissions from domestic flights across the world. In the United States the average person emits around 386 kilograms of CO",
                                "spanType": "span-simple-text"
                            },
                            {
                                "children": [
                                    {
                                        "text": "2",
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                            },
                            {
                                "text": " each year from internal flights. This is followed by Australia (267 kg); Norway (209 kg); New Zealand (174 kg); and Canada (168 kg). Compare this with\u00a0 countries at the bottom of the table \u2013 many across Africa, Asia, and Eastern Europe in particular emit less than one kilogram per person \u2013 just 0.8 kilograms; or 0.14 kilograms in Rwanda. For very small countries where there are no internal commercial flights, domestic emissions are of course, zero.",
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                        ],
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                        "value": [
                            {
                                "text": "There are some obvious factors that explain some of these cross-country differences. Firstly, countries that are richer ",
                                "spanType": "span-simple-text"
                            },
                            {
                                "url": "https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/per-capita-co2-domestic-aviation-vs-gdp",
                                "children": [
                                    {
                                        "text": "are more likely",
                                        "spanType": "span-simple-text"
                                    }
                                ],
                                "spanType": "span-link"
                            },
                            {
                                "text": " to have higher emissions because people can afford to fly. Second, countries that have a larger land mass may have more internal flights \u2013\u00a0and indeed we see a ",
                                "spanType": "span-simple-text"
                            },
                            {
                                "url": "https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/per-capita-co2-domestic-aviation-vs-land-area",
                                "children": [
                                    {
                                        "text": "correlation",
                                        "spanType": "span-simple-text"
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                                ],
                                "spanType": "span-link"
                            },
                            {
                                "text": " between land area and domestic flight emissions; in small countries people are more likely to travel by other means such as car or train.\u00a0 And third, countries that are more geographically-isolated \u2013 such as Australia and New Zealand \u2013 may have more internal travel.",
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                            }
                        ],
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                "right": [
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                        "url": "https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/per-capita-co2-domestic-aviation",
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                        "text": [
                            {
                                "text": "Related charts:",
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                            }
                        ],
                        "type": "heading",
                        "level": 5,
                        "parseErrors": []
                    },
                    {
                        "url": "https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/co2-emissions-domestic-aviation",
                        "type": "prominent-link",
                        "title": "Total CO\u2082 emissions from domestic aviation",
                        "description": "",
                        "parseErrors": []
                    },
                    {
                        "url": "https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/share-global-co2-domestic-aviation",
                        "type": "prominent-link",
                        "title": "Share of global CO\u2082 emissions from domestic aviation",
                        "description": "",
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                "text": [
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                        "text": "Per capita emissions from international flights",
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                "level": 2,
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                "left": [
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                        "value": [
                            {
                                "text": "Allocating emissions from international flights is more complex. International databases report these emissions separately as a category termed \u2018bunker fuels\u2019. The term \u2018bunker fuel\u2019 is used to describe emissions which come from international transport \u2013 either aviation or shipping.",
                                "spanType": "span-simple-text"
                            }
                        ],
                        "parseErrors": []
                    },
                    {
                        "type": "text",
                        "value": [
                            {
                                "text": "Because they are ",
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                            },
                            {
                                "url": "https://unfccc.int/topics/mitigation/workstreams/emissions-from-international-transport-bunker-fuels",
                                "children": [
                                    {
                                        "text": "not counted towards",
                                        "spanType": "span-simple-text"
                                    }
                                ],
                                "spanType": "span-link"
                            },
                            {
                                "text": " any particular country these emissions are also not taken into account in the goals that are set by countries in international treaties like the Kyoto protocol or the Paris Agreement.{ref}Larsson, J., Kamb, A., N\u00e4ss\u00e9n, J., & \u00c5kerman, J. (2018). ",
                                "spanType": "span-simple-text"
                            },
                            {
                                "url": "https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0195925517303116",
                                "children": [
                                    {
                                        "text": "Measuring greenhouse gas emissions from international air travel of a country\u2019s residents methodological development and application for Sweden",
                                        "spanType": "span-simple-text"
                                    }
                                ],
                                "spanType": "span-link"
                            },
                            {
                                "text": ". ",
                                "spanType": "span-simple-text"
                            },
                            {
                                "children": [
                                    {
                                        "text": "Environmental Impact Assessment Review",
                                        "spanType": "span-simple-text"
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                                ],
                                "spanType": "span-italic"
                            },
                            {
                                "text": ", ",
                                "spanType": "span-simple-text"
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                            {
                                "children": [
                                    {
                                        "text": "72",
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                            },
                            {
                                "text": ", 137-144.{/ref}",
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                        "type": "text",
                        "value": [
                            {
                                "text": "But if we wanted to allocate them to a particular country, how would we do it? Who do emissions from international flights belong to: the country that owns the airline; the country of departure; the country of arrival?",
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                        ],
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                                "text": "Let\u2019s first take a look at how emissions would compare if we allocated them to the country of ",
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                            },
                            {
                                "children": [
                                    {
                                        "text": "departure",
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                            {
                                "text": ". This means, for example, that emissions from any flight that departs from Spain are counted towards Spain\u2019s total. In the chart here we see international aviation emissions in per capita terms.",
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                        ],
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                        "type": "text",
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                                "text": "Some of the largest emitters per person in 2018 were Iceland (3.5 tonnes of CO",
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                            {
                                "children": [
                                    {
                                        "text": "2",
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                            {
                                "text": " per person); Qatar (2.5 tonnes); United Arab Emirates (2.2 tonnes); Singapore (1.7 tonnes); and Malta (992 kilograms).\u00a0",
                                "spanType": "span-simple-text"
                            }
                        ],
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                                "text": "Again, we see large inequalities in emissions across the world \u2013 in many lower-income countries per capita emissions are only a few kilograms: 6 kilograms in India, 4 kilograms in Nigeria; and only 1.4 kilograms in the Democratic Republic of Congo.",
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                ],
                "type": "sticky-right",
                "right": [
                    {
                        "url": "https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/per-capita-co2-international-aviation?stackMode=absolute&time=latest&region=World",
                        "type": "chart",
                        "parseErrors": []
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                    {
                        "text": [
                            {
                                "text": "Related charts:",
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                            }
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                        "type": "heading",
                        "level": 5,
                        "parseErrors": []
                    },
                    {
                        "url": "https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/co2-international-aviation",
                        "type": "prominent-link",
                        "title": "Total CO\u2082 emissions from international aviation",
                        "description": "",
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                    },
                    {
                        "url": "https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/share-co2-international-aviation",
                        "type": "prominent-link",
                        "title": "Share of global CO\u2082 emissions from international aviation",
                        "description": "",
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                "text": [
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                        "text": "Per capita emissions from international flights \u2013 adjusted for tourism",
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                "level": 2,
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                "left": [
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                        "type": "text",
                        "value": [
                            {
                                "text": "The above allocation of international aviation emissions to the country of ",
                                "spanType": "span-simple-text"
                            },
                            {
                                "children": [
                                    {
                                        "text": "departure",
                                        "spanType": "span-simple-text"
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                            {
                                "text": " raises some issues. It is not an accurate reflection of the local population of countries that rely a lot on tourism, for example. Most of the departing flights from these countries are carrying visiting tourists rather than locals.\u00a0",
                                "spanType": "span-simple-text"
                            }
                        ],
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                        "value": [
                            {
                                "text": "One way to correct for this is to adjust these figures for the ratio of inbound to outbound travellers. This approach was applied ",
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                            },
                            {
                                "url": "https://theicct.org/blog/staff/not-every-tonne-of-aviation-CO2",
                                "children": [
                                    {
                                        "text": "in an analysis",
                                        "spanType": "span-simple-text"
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                                "spanType": "span-link"
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                            {
                                "text": " by Sola Zheng for the ",
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                            {
                                "children": [
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                                        "text": "International Council on Clean Transportation",
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                            {
                                "text": ". This attempts to distinguish between locals traveling abroad and foreign visitors traveling to that country on the same flight.{ref}A country with a ratio greater than one will have more incoming travellers than outgoing locals i.e. they are more of a hotspot for tourism.{/ref} For example, if we calculated that Spain had 50% more incoming than outgoing travellers, we would reduce its per capita footprint from flying by 50%. If the UK had 75% more outgoing travellers than incoming, we\u2019d increase its footprint by 75%.",
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                                "text": "We have replicated this approach and\u00a0 applied this adjustment to these figures by calculating the ",
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                            {
                                "url": "https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/ratio-of-inbound-to-outbound-tourists",
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                                        "text": "inbound:outbound tourist ratio",
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                            {
                                "text": " based on flight departures and arrival data from the ",
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                            },
                            {
                                "url": "https://datacatalog.worldbank.org/dataset/world-development-indicators",
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                                        "text": "World Bank",
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                            {
                                "text": ".\u00a0",
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                                "text": "How does this affect per capita emissions from international flights? The adjusted figures are shown in the chart here.",
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                                "text": "As we would expect, countries which are tourist hotspots see the largest change. Portugal\u2019s emissions, for example, fall from 388 to just 60 kilograms per person. Portuguese locals are responsible for much fewer travel emissions than outgoing tourists. Spanish emissions fall from 335 to 77 kilograms per person.",
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                                "text": "On the other hand, countries where the locals travel elsewhere see a large increase. In the UK, they almost double from 422 to 818 kilograms.",
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                        "url": "https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/per-capita-co2-international-flights-adjusted?stackMode=absolute&time=latest&region=World",
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                "text": [
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                        "text": "Per capita emissions from domestic ",
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                        "children": [
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                                "text": "and ",
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                        "text": "international flights",
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                                "text": "Let\u2019s combine per capita emissions from domestic and international travel to compare the total footprint from flying.",
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                    {
                        "type": "text",
                        "value": [
                            {
                                "text": "This is shown in the interactive map ",
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                            {
                                "children": [
                                    {
                                        "text": "[we\u2019ve taken the adjusted international figures \u2013 you can find the\u00a0 combined figures without tourism-adjustment ",
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                            {
                                "url": "https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/per-capita-co2-aviation",
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                                    {
                                        "children": [
                                            {
                                                "children": [
                                                    {
                                                        "text": "here",
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                                "children": [
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                                        "text": "].\u00a0",
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                                "text": "The global average emissions from aviation were 103 kilograms. The inequality in emissions across the world becomes clear when this is broken down by country.\u00a0",
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                            {
                                "text": "At the top of the table lies the United Arab Emirates \u2013 each person emits close to two tonnes \u2013 1950 kg \u2013 of CO",
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                            },
                            {
                                "children": [
                                    {
                                        "text": "2",
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                                "spanType": "span-subscript"
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                            {
                                "text": " from flying each year. That\u2019s 200 times the global average.\u00a0 This was followed by Singapore (1173 kilograms); Iceland (1070 kg); Finland (1000 kg); and Australia (878 kilograms).\u00a0",
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                            {
                                "text": "To put this into perspective: a return flight (in economy class) from London to Dubai/United Arab Emirates would emit around one tonne of CO",
                                "spanType": "span-simple-text"
                            },
                            {
                                "children": [
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                                        "text": "2",
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                                "spanType": "span-subscript"
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                            {
                                "text": ".{ref}We can calculate this by taking the standard CO2 conversion factors for travel, used in the ",
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                            },
                            {
                                "url": "https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/greenhouse-gas-reporting-conversion-factors-2019",
                                "children": [
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                                        "text": "UK greenhouse gas accounting framework",
                                        "spanType": "span-simple-text"
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                                "spanType": "span-link"
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                            {
                                "text": ". For a long-haul flight in economy class, around 0.079 kilograms of CO",
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                            {
                                "children": [
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                                        "text": "2",
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                                "url": "https://ourworldindata.org/travel-carbon-footprint",
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                                        "text": "are emitted",
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                            {
                                "text": " per passenger-kilometer. This means that you would travel around 12,600 kilometers to emit one tonne [1,000,000 / 0.079 kg = 12,626 kilometers]. Since we\u2019re taking a return flight, the travel distance would be half of that figure: around 6300 kilometers. The direct distance from ",
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                            {
                                "url": "https://www.distance.to/London/Dubai,ARE",
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                                        "text": "London to Dubai",
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                                ],
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                            {
                                "text": " is around 5,500 kilometers. Depending on the flight path, it\u2019s likely to be slightly longer than this, and in the range of 5500 to 6500 kilometers.",
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                                "text": "Note that in this case we\u2019re looking at CO",
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                                "children": [
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                                        "text": "2",
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                            {
                                "text": " emissions ",
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                                "children": [
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                                        "text": "without",
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                            {
                                "text": " the extra warming effects of these emissions at high altitudes. This is to allow us to compare with the ICCT figures by country presented in this article. You find additional data on how the footprint of flying is impacted by non-CO",
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                            {
                                "children": [
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                                        "text": "2",
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                                "text": " warming effects",
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                            {
                                "url": "https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/carbon-footprint-travel-mode",
                                "children": [
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                                        "text": " ",
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                                        "children": [
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                                                "text": "here",
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                            {
                                "text": ".{/ref} So the two-tonne average for the UAE is equivalent to around two return trips to London.",
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                                "text": "In many countries, most people do not fly at all. The average Indian emits just 18 kilograms from aviation \u2013 this is much, much less than even a short-haul flight which confirms that most did not take a flight.",
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                                "text": "In fact, we can compare just the aviation emissions for the top countries to the ",
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                                "children": [
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                                        "text": "total",
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                                "text": " carbon footprint of citizens elsewhere. The average UAE citizen emits 1950 kilograms of CO",
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                            {
                                "children": [
                                    {
                                        "text": "2",
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                            {
                                "text": " from flying. This is the same as the ",
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                            {
                                "children": [
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2020-11-09 11:00:00

2024-02-16 14:22:50

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Globally, aviation accounts for around 2.5% of CO₂ emissions. But for many, it accounts for a much larger share.

2020-10-08 12:11:32

2021-09-24 12:40:26

https://ourworldindata.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/per-capita-co2-aviation-adjusted.png

{}

Our World in Data presents the data and research to make progress against the world’s largest problems. This blog post draws on data and research discussed in our entries on **[CO2 and Greenhouse Gas Emissions](https://ourworldindata.org/co2-and-other-greenhouse-gas-emissions)** and **[Energy](https://ourworldindata.org/energy)**. Aviation accounts [for around 2.5%](https://ourworldindata.org/co2-emissions-from-aviation) of global carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions. But if you are someone who does fly, air travel will make up a much larger share of your personal carbon footprint. The fact that aviation is relatively small for global emissions as a whole, but of large importance for individuals that fly is due to large inequalities in the world. Most people in the world do not take flights. There is no global reliable figure, but often cited estimates suggest that more than 80% of the global population have never flown.{ref}There is no global database available on _who_ in the world flies each year. Passenger information is maintained by private airlines. Therefore, deriving estimates of this exact percentage is challenging. The most-cited estimate I’ve seen on this is that around 80% of the world population have never flown. This figure seems to circle back to a [quoted estimate](https://www.cnbc.com/2017/12/07/boeing-ceo-80-percent-of-people-never-flown-for-us-that-means-growth.html#:~:text=%E2%80%9CLess%20than%2020%20percent%20of,the%20entire%20economy%2C%20Muilenburg%20said.) from the Boeing CEO. Even in some of the world’s richest countries, a large share of the population do not fly frequently. Gallup [survey data](https://news.gallup.com/poll/1579/airlines.aspx) from the United States suggests that in 2015, half of the population did not take a flight. Survey data from the UK [provides similar estimates](http://publicapps.caa.co.uk/docs/33/CAA%20Aviation%20Consumer%20survey%20--%205th%20wave%20report%20FINAL%20(2).pdf): 46% had not flown in the previous year.{/ref} How do emissions from aviation vary across the world? Where do people have the highest footprint from flying? ## Per capita emissions from domestic flights The first and most straightforward comparison is to look at emissions from _domestic_ aviation – that is, flights that depart and arrive in the same country. This is easiest to compare because domestic aviation is counted in each country’s inventory of greenhouse gas emissions. International flights, on the other hand, are not attributed to specific countries – partly because of contention as to who should take responsibility (should it be the country of departure or arrival? What about layover flights?). In the chart here we see the average per capita emissions from domestic flights in 2018. This data is sourced from the _International Council on Clean Transportation_ – we then used [UN population estimates](https://population.un.org/wpp/) to calculate per capita figures.{ref}Graver, B., Zhang, K., & Rutherford, D. (2019). [CO2 emissions from commercial aviation, 2018](https://theicct.org/publications/co2-emissions-commercial-aviation-2018). _The International Council of Clean Transportation_.{/ref},{ref}Note that this gives us _mean_ per capita emissions, which does not account for in-country inequalities in the amount of flights people take.{/ref} We see large differences in emissions from domestic flights across the world. In the United States the average person emits around 386 kilograms of CO2 each year from internal flights. This is followed by Australia (267 kg); Norway (209 kg); New Zealand (174 kg); and Canada (168 kg). Compare this with countries at the bottom of the table – many across Africa, Asia, and Eastern Europe in particular emit less than one kilogram per person – just 0.8 kilograms; or 0.14 kilograms in Rwanda. For very small countries where there are no internal commercial flights, domestic emissions are of course, zero. There are some obvious factors that explain some of these cross-country differences. Firstly, countries that are richer [are more likely](https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/per-capita-co2-domestic-aviation-vs-gdp) to have higher emissions because people can afford to fly. Second, countries that have a larger land mass may have more internal flights – and indeed we see a [correlation](https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/per-capita-co2-domestic-aviation-vs-land-area) between land area and domestic flight emissions; in small countries people are more likely to travel by other means such as car or train. And third, countries that are more geographically-isolated – such as Australia and New Zealand – may have more internal travel. <Chart url="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/per-capita-co2-domestic-aviation"/> ##### Related charts: ### Total CO₂ emissions from domestic aviation https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/co2-emissions-domestic-aviation ### Share of global CO₂ emissions from domestic aviation https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/share-global-co2-domestic-aviation ## Per capita emissions from international flights Allocating emissions from international flights is more complex. International databases report these emissions separately as a category termed ‘bunker fuels’. The term ‘bunker fuel’ is used to describe emissions which come from international transport – either aviation or shipping. Because they are [not counted towards](https://unfccc.int/topics/mitigation/workstreams/emissions-from-international-transport-bunker-fuels) any particular country these emissions are also not taken into account in the goals that are set by countries in international treaties like the Kyoto protocol or the Paris Agreement.{ref}Larsson, J., Kamb, A., Nässén, J., & Åkerman, J. (2018). [Measuring greenhouse gas emissions from international air travel of a country’s residents methodological development and application for Sweden](https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0195925517303116). _Environmental Impact Assessment Review_, _72_, 137-144.{/ref} But if we wanted to allocate them to a particular country, how would we do it? Who do emissions from international flights belong to: the country that owns the airline; the country of departure; the country of arrival? Let’s first take a look at how emissions would compare if we allocated them to the country of _departure_. This means, for example, that emissions from any flight that departs from Spain are counted towards Spain’s total. In the chart here we see international aviation emissions in per capita terms. Some of the largest emitters per person in 2018 were Iceland (3.5 tonnes of CO2 per person); Qatar (2.5 tonnes); United Arab Emirates (2.2 tonnes); Singapore (1.7 tonnes); and Malta (992 kilograms). Again, we see large inequalities in emissions across the world – in many lower-income countries per capita emissions are only a few kilograms: 6 kilograms in India, 4 kilograms in Nigeria; and only 1.4 kilograms in the Democratic Republic of Congo. <Chart url="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/per-capita-co2-international-aviation?stackMode=absolute&time=latest&region=World"/> ##### Related charts: ### Total CO₂ emissions from international aviation https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/co2-international-aviation ### Share of global CO₂ emissions from international aviation https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/share-co2-international-aviation ## Per capita emissions from international flights – adjusted for tourism The above allocation of international aviation emissions to the country of _departure_ raises some issues. It is not an accurate reflection of the local population of countries that rely a lot on tourism, for example. Most of the departing flights from these countries are carrying visiting tourists rather than locals. One way to correct for this is to adjust these figures for the ratio of inbound to outbound travellers. This approach was applied [in an analysis](https://theicct.org/blog/staff/not-every-tonne-of-aviation-CO2) by Sola Zheng for the _International Council on Clean Transportation_. This attempts to distinguish between locals traveling abroad and foreign visitors traveling to that country on the same flight.{ref}A country with a ratio greater than one will have more incoming travellers than outgoing locals i.e. they are more of a hotspot for tourism.{/ref} For example, if we calculated that Spain had 50% more incoming than outgoing travellers, we would reduce its per capita footprint from flying by 50%. If the UK had 75% more outgoing travellers than incoming, we’d increase its footprint by 75%. We have replicated this approach and applied this adjustment to these figures by calculating the [inbound:outbound tourist ratio](https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/ratio-of-inbound-to-outbound-tourists) based on flight departures and arrival data from the [World Bank](https://datacatalog.worldbank.org/dataset/world-development-indicators). How does this affect per capita emissions from international flights? The adjusted figures are shown in the chart here. As we would expect, countries which are tourist hotspots see the largest change. Portugal’s emissions, for example, fall from 388 to just 60 kilograms per person. Portuguese locals are responsible for much fewer travel emissions than outgoing tourists. Spanish emissions fall from 335 to 77 kilograms per person. On the other hand, countries where the locals travel elsewhere see a large increase. In the UK, they almost double from 422 to 818 kilograms. <Chart url="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/per-capita-co2-international-flights-adjusted?stackMode=absolute&time=latest&region=World"/> ## Per capita emissions from domestic _and _international flights Let’s combine per capita emissions from domestic and international travel to compare the total footprint from flying. This is shown in the interactive map _[we’ve taken the adjusted international figures – you can find the combined figures without tourism-adjustment _[**_here_**](https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/per-capita-co2-aviation)_]. _ The global average emissions from aviation were 103 kilograms. The inequality in emissions across the world becomes clear when this is broken down by country. At the top of the table lies the United Arab Emirates – each person emits close to two tonnes – 1950 kg – of CO2 from flying each year. That’s 200 times the global average. This was followed by Singapore (1173 kilograms); Iceland (1070 kg); Finland (1000 kg); and Australia (878 kilograms). To put this into perspective: a return flight (in economy class) from London to Dubai/United Arab Emirates would emit around one tonne of CO2.{ref}We can calculate this by taking the standard CO2 conversion factors for travel, used in the [UK greenhouse gas accounting framework](https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/greenhouse-gas-reporting-conversion-factors-2019). For a long-haul flight in economy class, around 0.079 kilograms of CO2[are emitted](https://ourworldindata.org/travel-carbon-footprint) per passenger-kilometer. This means that you would travel around 12,600 kilometers to emit one tonne [1,000,000 / 0.079 kg = 12,626 kilometers]. Since we’re taking a return flight, the travel distance would be half of that figure: around 6300 kilometers. The direct distance from [London to Dubai](https://www.distance.to/London/Dubai,ARE) is around 5,500 kilometers. Depending on the flight path, it’s likely to be slightly longer than this, and in the range of 5500 to 6500 kilometers. Note that in this case we’re looking at CO2 emissions _without_ the extra warming effects of these emissions at high altitudes. This is to allow us to compare with the ICCT figures by country presented in this article. You find additional data on how the footprint of flying is impacted by non-CO2 warming effects[ **here**](https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/carbon-footprint-travel-mode).{/ref} So the two-tonne average for the UAE is equivalent to around two return trips to London. In many countries, most people do not fly at all. The average Indian emits just 18 kilograms from aviation – this is much, much less than even a short-haul flight which confirms that most did not take a flight. In fact, we can compare just the aviation emissions for the top countries to the _total_ carbon footprint of citizens elsewhere. The average UAE citizen emits 1950 kilograms of CO2 from flying. This is the same as the _total_[CO2 footprint of the average Indian](https://ourworldindata.org/explorers/co2?tab=chart&xScale=linear&yScale=linear&stackMode=absolute&endpointsOnly=0&year=latest&time=1858..2018&country=~India&region=World&Gas%20=CO%E2%82%82&Accounting%20=Production-based&Fuel%20=Total&Count%20=Per%20capita&Relative%20to%20world%20total%20=) (including everything from electricity to road transport, heating and industry). Or, to take a more extreme example, 200 times the total footprint of the average Nigerien, Ugandan or Ethiopian, which [have per capita emissions](https://ourworldindata.org/explorers/co2?tab=chart&xScale=linear&yScale=linear&stackMode=absolute&endpointsOnly=0&year=latest&time=1958..2018&country=Niger~Uganda~Ethiopia&region=World&Gas%20=CO%E2%82%82&Accounting%20=Production-based&Fuel%20=Total&Count%20=Per%20capita&Relative%20to%20world%20total%20=) of around 100 kilograms. This again emphasises the large difference between the global average and the individual emissions of people who fly. Aviation contributes a few percent of total CO2 emissions each year – this is not insignificant, but far from being the largest sector to tackle. Yet from the perspective of the individual, flying _is_ often one of the largest chunks of our carbon footprint. The average rich person emits tonnes of CO2 from flying each year – this is equivalent to the _total_ carbon footprint of tens or hundreds of people in many countries of the world. <Chart url="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/per-capita-co2-aviation-adjusted?stackMode=absolute&region=World"/> ##### Related charts: ### Per capita CO₂ emissions from aviation (without tourism adjustment) https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/per-capita-co2-aviation ### Total CO₂ emissions from aviation https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/co2-emissions-aviation ### Share of global CO₂ emissions from aviation https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/share-co2-emissions-aviation

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        "rendered": "\n<div class=\"blog-info\">\n<p>Our World in Data presents the data and research to make progress against the world\u2019s largest problems.<br>This blog post draws on data and research discussed in our entries on <strong><a href=\"https://ourworldindata.org/co2-and-other-greenhouse-gas-emissions\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">CO<sub>2</sub> and Greenhouse Gas Emissions</a></strong> and <strong><a href=\"https://ourworldindata.org/energy\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Energy</a></strong>.</p>\n</div>\n\n\n\n<p>Aviation accounts <a href=\"https://ourworldindata.org/co2-emissions-from-aviation\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">for around 2.5%</a> of global carbon dioxide (CO<sub>2</sub>) emissions. But if you are someone who does fly, air travel will make up a much larger share of your personal carbon footprint.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>The fact that aviation is relatively small for global emissions as a whole, but of large importance for individuals that fly is due to large inequalities in the world. Most people in the&nbsp; world do not take flights. There is no global reliable figure, but often cited estimates suggest that more than 80% of the global population have never flown.{ref}There is no global database available on <em>who</em> in the world flies each year. Passenger information is maintained by private airlines. Therefore, deriving estimates of this exact percentage is challenging. The most-cited estimate I\u2019ve seen on this is that around 80% of the world population have never flown. This figure seems to circle back to a <a href=\"https://www.cnbc.com/2017/12/07/boeing-ceo-80-percent-of-people-never-flown-for-us-that-means-growth.html#:~:text=%E2%80%9CLess%20than%2020%20percent%20of,the%20entire%20economy%2C%20Muilenburg%20said.\">quoted estimate</a> from the Boeing CEO.<br><br>Even in some of the world\u2019s richest countries, a large share of the population do not fly frequently. Gallup <a href=\"https://news.gallup.com/poll/1579/airlines.aspx\">survey data</a> from the United States suggests that in 2015, half of the population did not take a flight. Survey data from the UK <a href=\"http://publicapps.caa.co.uk/docs/33/CAA%20Aviation%20Consumer%20survey%20--%205th%20wave%20report%20FINAL%20(2).pdf\">provides similar estimates</a>: 46% had not flown in the previous year.{/ref}</p>\n\n\n\n<p>How do emissions from aviation vary across the world? Where do people have the highest footprint from flying?</p>\n\n\n\n<h4>Per capita emissions from domestic flights</h4>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-columns\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-column\">\n<p>The first and most straightforward comparison is to look at emissions from <em>domestic</em> aviation \u2013 that is, flights that depart and arrive in the same country.&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n\n<p>This is easiest to compare because domestic aviation is counted in each country\u2019s inventory of greenhouse gas emissions. International flights, on the other hand, are not attributed to specific countries \u2013 partly because of contention as to who should take responsibility (should it be the country of departure or arrival? What about layover flights?).</p>\n\n\n\n<p>In the chart here we see the average per capita emissions from domestic flights in 2018. This data is sourced from the <em>International Council on Clean Transportation</em> \u2013 we then used <a href=\"https://population.un.org/wpp/\">UN population estimates</a> to calculate per capita figures.{ref}Graver, B., Zhang, K., &amp; Rutherford, D. (2019). <a href=\"https://theicct.org/publications/co2-emissions-commercial-aviation-2018\">CO2 emissions from commercial aviation, 2018</a>. <em>The International Council of Clean Transportation</em>.{/ref}<sup>,</sup>{ref}Note that this gives us <em>mean</em> per capita emissions, which&nbsp; does not account for in-country inequalities in the amount of flights people take.{/ref}</p>\n\n\n\n<p>We see large differences in emissions from domestic flights across the world. In the United States the average person emits around 386 kilograms of CO<sub>2</sub> each year from internal flights. This is followed by Australia (267 kg); Norway (209 kg); New Zealand (174 kg); and Canada (168 kg). Compare this with&nbsp; countries at the bottom of the table \u2013 many across Africa, Asia, and Eastern Europe in particular emit less than one kilogram per person \u2013 just 0.8 kilograms; or 0.14 kilograms in Rwanda. For very small countries where there are no internal commercial flights, domestic emissions are of course, zero.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>There are some obvious factors that explain some of these cross-country differences. Firstly, countries that are richer <a href=\"https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/per-capita-co2-domestic-aviation-vs-gdp\">are more likely</a> to have higher emissions because people can afford to fly. Second, countries that have a larger land mass may have more internal flights \u2013&nbsp;and indeed we see a <a href=\"https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/per-capita-co2-domestic-aviation-vs-land-area\">correlation</a> between land area and domestic flight emissions; in small countries people are more likely to travel by other means such as car or train.&nbsp; And third, countries that are more geographically-isolated \u2013 such as Australia and New Zealand \u2013 may have more internal travel.</p>\n</div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-column\">\n<iframe src=\"https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/per-capita-co2-domestic-aviation\" loading=\"lazy\" style=\"width: 100%; height: 600px; border: 0px none;\"></iframe>\n\n\n\n<h5>Related charts:</h5>\n\n\n    <block type=\"prominent-link\" style=\"is-style-thin\">\n        <link-url>https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/co2-emissions-domestic-aviation</link-url>\n        <title>Total CO\u2082 emissions from domestic aviation</title>\n        <content></content>\n        <figure></figure>\n    </block>\n\n    <block type=\"prominent-link\" style=\"is-style-thin\">\n        <link-url>https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/share-global-co2-domestic-aviation</link-url>\n        <title>Share of global CO\u2082 emissions from domestic aviation</title>\n        <content></content>\n        <figure></figure>\n    </block></div>\n</div>\n\n\n\n<h4>Per capita emissions from international flights</h4>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-columns\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-column\">\n<p>Allocating emissions from international flights is more complex. International databases report these emissions separately as a category termed \u2018bunker fuels\u2019. The term \u2018bunker fuel\u2019 is used to describe emissions which come from international transport \u2013 either aviation or shipping.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Because they are <a href=\"https://unfccc.int/topics/mitigation/workstreams/emissions-from-international-transport-bunker-fuels\">not counted towards</a> any particular country these emissions are also not taken into account in the goals that are set by countries in international treaties like the Kyoto protocol or the Paris Agreement.{ref}Larsson, J., Kamb, A., N\u00e4ss\u00e9n, J., &amp; \u00c5kerman, J. (2018). <a href=\"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0195925517303116\">Measuring greenhouse gas emissions from international air travel of a country\u2019s residents methodological development and application for Sweden</a>. <em>Environmental Impact Assessment Review</em>, <em>72</em>, 137-144.{/ref}</p>\n\n\n\n<p>But if we wanted to allocate them to a particular country, how would we do it? Who do emissions from international flights belong to: the country that owns the airline; the country of departure; the country of arrival?</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Let\u2019s first take a look at how emissions would compare if we allocated them to the country of <em>departure</em>. This means, for example, that emissions from any flight that departs from Spain are counted towards Spain\u2019s total. In the chart here we see international aviation emissions in per capita terms.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Some of the largest emitters per person in 2018 were Iceland (3.5 tonnes of CO<sub>2</sub> per person); Qatar (2.5 tonnes); United Arab Emirates (2.2 tonnes); Singapore (1.7 tonnes); and Malta (992 kilograms).&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Again, we see large inequalities in emissions across the world \u2013 in many lower-income countries per capita emissions are only a few kilograms: 6 kilograms in India, 4 kilograms in Nigeria; and only 1.4 kilograms in the Democratic Republic of Congo.</p>\n</div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-column\">\n<iframe src=\"https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/per-capita-co2-international-aviation?stackMode=absolute&amp;time=latest&amp;region=World\" loading=\"lazy\" style=\"width: 100%; height: 600px; border: 0px none;\"></iframe>\n\n\n\n<h5>Related charts:</h5>\n\n\n    <block type=\"prominent-link\" style=\"is-style-thin\">\n        <link-url>https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/co2-international-aviation</link-url>\n        <title>Total CO\u2082 emissions from international aviation</title>\n        <content></content>\n        <figure></figure>\n    </block>\n\n    <block type=\"prominent-link\" style=\"is-style-thin\">\n        <link-url>https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/share-co2-international-aviation</link-url>\n        <title>Share of global CO\u2082 emissions from international aviation</title>\n        <content></content>\n        <figure></figure>\n    </block></div>\n</div>\n\n\n\n<h4>Per capita emissions from international flights \u2013 adjusted for tourism</h4>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-columns\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-column\">\n<p>The above allocation of international aviation emissions to the country of <em>departure</em> raises some issues. It is not an accurate reflection of the local population of countries that rely a lot on tourism, for example. Most of the departing flights from these countries are carrying visiting tourists rather than locals.&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n\n<p>One way to correct for this is to adjust these figures for the ratio of inbound to outbound travellers. This approach was applied <a href=\"https://theicct.org/blog/staff/not-every-tonne-of-aviation-CO2\">in an analysis</a> by Sola Zheng for the <em>International Council on Clean Transportation</em>. This attempts to distinguish between locals traveling abroad and foreign visitors traveling to that country on the same flight.{ref}A country with a ratio greater than one will have more incoming travellers than outgoing locals i.e. they are more of a hotspot for tourism.{/ref} For example, if we calculated that Spain had 50% more incoming than outgoing travellers, we would reduce its per capita footprint from flying by 50%. If the UK had 75% more outgoing travellers than incoming, we\u2019d increase its footprint by 75%.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>We have replicated this approach and&nbsp; applied this adjustment to these figures by calculating the <a href=\"https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/ratio-of-inbound-to-outbound-tourists\">inbound:outbound tourist ratio</a> based on flight departures and arrival data from the <a href=\"https://datacatalog.worldbank.org/dataset/world-development-indicators\">World Bank</a>.&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n\n<p>How does this affect per capita emissions from international flights? The adjusted figures are shown in the chart here.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>As we would expect, countries which are tourist hotspots see the largest change. Portugal\u2019s emissions, for example, fall from 388 to just 60 kilograms per person. Portuguese locals are responsible for much fewer travel emissions than outgoing tourists. Spanish emissions fall from 335 to 77 kilograms per person.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>On the other hand, countries where the locals travel elsewhere see a large increase. In the UK, they almost double from 422 to 818 kilograms.</p>\n</div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-column\">\n<iframe src=\"https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/per-capita-co2-international-flights-adjusted?stackMode=absolute&amp;time=latest&amp;region=World\" loading=\"lazy\" style=\"width: 100%; height: 600px; border: 0px none;\"></iframe>\n</div>\n</div>\n\n\n\n<h4>Per capita emissions from domestic <em>and </em>international flights</h4>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-columns\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-column\">\n<p>Let\u2019s combine per capita emissions from domestic and international travel to compare the total footprint from flying.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>This is shown in the interactive map <em>[we\u2019ve taken the adjusted international figures \u2013 you can find the&nbsp; combined figures without tourism-adjustment </em><a href=\"https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/per-capita-co2-aviation\"><strong><em>here</em></strong></a><em>].&nbsp;</em></p>\n\n\n\n<p>The global average emissions from aviation were 103 kilograms. The inequality in emissions across the world becomes clear when this is broken down by country.&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n\n<p>At the top of the table lies the United Arab Emirates \u2013 each person emits close to two tonnes \u2013 1950 kg \u2013 of CO<sub>2</sub> from flying each year. That\u2019s 200 times the global average.&nbsp; This was followed by Singapore (1173 kilograms); Iceland (1070 kg); Finland (1000 kg); and Australia (878 kilograms).&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n\n<p>To put this into perspective: a return flight (in economy class) from London to Dubai/United Arab Emirates would emit around one tonne of CO<sub>2</sub>.{ref}We can calculate this by taking the standard CO2 conversion factors for travel, used in the <a href=\"https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/greenhouse-gas-reporting-conversion-factors-2019\">UK greenhouse gas accounting framework</a>. For a long-haul flight in economy class, around 0.079 kilograms of CO<sub>2</sub> <a href=\"https://ourworldindata.org/travel-carbon-footprint\">are emitted</a> per passenger-kilometer. This means that you would travel around 12,600 kilometers to emit one tonne [1,000,000 / 0.079 kg = 12,626 kilometers]. Since we\u2019re taking a return flight, the travel distance would be half of that figure: around 6300 kilometers. The direct distance from <a href=\"https://www.distance.to/London/Dubai,ARE\">London to Dubai</a> is around 5,500 kilometers. Depending on the flight path, it\u2019s likely to be slightly longer than this, and in the range of 5500 to 6500 kilometers.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Note that in this case we\u2019re looking at CO<sub>2</sub> emissions <em>without</em> the extra warming effects of these emissions at high altitudes. This is to allow us to compare with the ICCT figures by country presented in this article. You find additional data on how the footprint of flying is impacted by non-CO<sub>2</sub> warming effects<a href=\"https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/carbon-footprint-travel-mode\"> <strong>here</strong></a>.{/ref} So the two-tonne average for the UAE is equivalent to around two return trips to London.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>In many countries, most people do not fly at all. The average Indian emits just 18 kilograms from aviation \u2013 this is much, much less than even a short-haul flight which confirms that most did not take a flight.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>In fact, we can compare just the aviation emissions for the top countries to the <em>total</em> carbon footprint of citizens elsewhere. The average UAE citizen emits 1950 kilograms of CO<sub>2</sub> from flying. This is the same as the <em>total</em> <a href=\"https://ourworldindata.org/explorers/co2?tab=chart&amp;xScale=linear&amp;yScale=linear&amp;stackMode=absolute&amp;endpointsOnly=0&amp;year=latest&amp;time=1858..2018&amp;country=~India&amp;region=World&amp;Gas%20=CO%E2%82%82&amp;Accounting%20=Production-based&amp;Fuel%20=Total&amp;Count%20=Per%20capita&amp;Relative%20to%20world%20total%20=\">CO<sub>2</sub> footprint of the average Indian</a> (including everything from electricity to road transport, heating and industry). Or, to take a more extreme example, 200 times the total footprint of the average Nigerien, Ugandan or Ethiopian, which <a href=\"https://ourworldindata.org/explorers/co2?tab=chart&amp;xScale=linear&amp;yScale=linear&amp;stackMode=absolute&amp;endpointsOnly=0&amp;year=latest&amp;time=1958..2018&amp;country=Niger~Uganda~Ethiopia&amp;region=World&amp;Gas%20=CO%E2%82%82&amp;Accounting%20=Production-based&amp;Fuel%20=Total&amp;Count%20=Per%20capita&amp;Relative%20to%20world%20total%20=\">have per capita emissions</a> of around 100 kilograms.&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n\n<p>This again emphasises the large difference between the global average and the individual emissions of people who fly. Aviation contributes a few percent of total CO<sub>2</sub> emissions each year \u2013 this is not insignificant, but far from being the largest sector to tackle. Yet from the perspective of the individual, flying <em>is</em> often one of the largest chunks of our carbon footprint. The average rich person emits tonnes of CO<sub>2</sub> from flying each year \u2013 this is equivalent to the <em>total</em> carbon footprint of tens or hundreds of people in many countries of the world.</p>\n</div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-column\">\n<iframe src=\"https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/per-capita-co2-aviation-adjusted?stackMode=absolute&amp;region=World\" loading=\"lazy\" style=\"width: 100%; height: 600px; border: 0px none;\"></iframe>\n\n\n\n<h5>Related charts:</h5>\n\n\n    <block type=\"prominent-link\" style=\"is-style-thin\">\n        <link-url>https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/per-capita-co2-aviation</link-url>\n        <title>Per capita CO\u2082 emissions from aviation (without tourism adjustment)</title>\n        <content></content>\n        <figure></figure>\n    </block>\n\n    <block type=\"prominent-link\" style=\"is-style-thin\">\n        <link-url>https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/co2-emissions-aviation</link-url>\n        <title>Total CO\u2082 emissions from aviation</title>\n        <content></content>\n        <figure></figure>\n    </block>\n\n    <block type=\"prominent-link\" style=\"is-style-thin\">\n        <link-url>https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/share-co2-emissions-aviation</link-url>\n        <title>Share of global CO\u2082 emissions from aviation</title>\n        <content></content>\n        <figure></figure>\n    </block></div>\n</div>\n",
        "protected": false
    },
    "excerpt": {
        "rendered": "Globally, aviation accounts for around 2.5% of CO\u2082 emissions. But for many, it accounts for a much larger share.",
        "protected": false
    },
    "date_gmt": "2020-11-09T11:00:00",
    "modified": "2021-09-24T13:40:26",
    "template": "",
    "categories": [
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    ],
    "ping_status": "closed",
    "authors_name": [
        "Hannah Ritchie"
    ],
    "modified_gmt": "2021-09-24T12:40:26",
    "comment_status": "closed",
    "featured_media": 37380,
    "featured_media_paths": {
        "thumbnail": "/app/uploads/2020/10/per-capita-co2-aviation-adjusted-150x106.png",
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