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Aviation and the Global Atmosphere

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<strong>Aviation</strong> <strong>and</strong> <strong>the</strong> <strong>Global</strong> <strong>Atmosphere</strong><br />

according to an estimate provided by <strong>the</strong> ICAO Secretariat based on an analysis of 1996 airline schedules. Bearing in mind that a significant proportion of passenger<br />

journeys include more than one flight stage <strong>and</strong> that some short-haul flights bypass physical obstacles such as water, mountains, or inadequate ground infrastructure,<br />

<strong>the</strong> potential scope for replacing air transport with o<strong>the</strong>r modes seems unlikely to exceed about 10%.<br />

Fare, trip time, <strong>and</strong> frequency of service ra<strong>the</strong>r than environmental considerations influence <strong>the</strong> choice a passenger makes for a particular mode of transport. A paper<br />

presented to a European Air Traffic Forecasting Forum (ECAC, 1996) estimates that "...even under favorable assumptions for rail, less than 10% of <strong>the</strong> European air<br />

passengers could be substituted by high-speed train."<br />

8.3.3.2. Comparison of Carbon Dioxide Emissions from Different Forms of Passenger Transport<br />

Figure 8-4 compares CO 2 emissions from major passenger transport modes. The wide ranges in CO 2 intensity of passenger transport reflect many differences<br />

between countries <strong>and</strong> regions, including <strong>the</strong> availability of renewable <strong>and</strong> nuclear energy, <strong>the</strong> extent of road <strong>and</strong> rail infrastructure, <strong>and</strong> culture. For example, in <strong>the</strong><br />

United States, greater importance is placed on aircraft <strong>and</strong> automobile modes of travel than on rail. The automobile mode serves mainly shorter urban <strong>and</strong> commuter<br />

needs, whereas aircraft serve longer intercity needs. This pattern is illustrated by <strong>the</strong> number of domestic flights-more than five times <strong>the</strong> number of international flightswhich<br />

demonstrates greater U.S. dependence on short-haul aviation than in o<strong>the</strong>r geographic regions. In addition, U.S. cars <strong>and</strong> light trucks tend to be higher emitters<br />

because of increased vehicle <strong>and</strong> engine size (right of <strong>the</strong> range shown in Figure 8-4).<br />

Figure 8-5: CO 2 emissions for different aircraft types, based on British Airways fleet of 1997-98.<br />

http://www.ipcc.ch/ipccreports/sres/aviation/126.htm (2 von 6)08.05.2008 02:44:07

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