Analysis of environmental policies in aviation

As with most other human activities, the aviation sector is responsible for the production of carbon dioxide emissions. Even though the effectiveness of airplanes has increased significantly, the rate of the growth of air transport is even more rapidly rising, in order to fulfill the demand of the ever-rising number of passengers throughout the world. As the growth of the sector is quicker than technological innovations improving its effectivity, a continuous rise in total emissions can be observed. Approximately 2.5% of all energy-related CO2 emissions come from aviation. And while CO2 is the greenhouse gas with the most lasting effects, other emissions from the flight and operations should not be omitted. In 2005 EU set up its Emissions Trading System, which since 2012 includes also the aviation industry. In 2016, the ICAO decided to move towards the reduction of emissions from aviation through the creation of a Carbon Offsetting and Reduction Scheme for International Aviation. In this paper, we first analyse the two main international environmental policies currently in place, and then move to the national policies that are being implemented to support the national CO2 emissions reduction goals within the aviation sector and outline some of the main limitations of current legislation.