Airline Emissions in Europe Surpass Pre-COVID Levels Despite Pledges to Decarbonize
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\nEmissions from aviation in Europe have exceeded pre-pandemic levels, with Ryanair’s carbon footprint increasing by 50% since 2019, new research reveals. Despite promises to reduce emissions and use more fuel-efficient planes, aviation emissions continue to rise, driven by the expansion of low-cost carriers like Ryanair.<\/p>\n
In 2025, Ryanair’s emissions alone totaled 16.6 megatonnes of CO\u2082, comparable to the total annual emissions of a small European country. The entire European aviation sector emitted 195 megatonnes of CO\u2082 in 2025, a 2% increase from pre-COVID levels. Ryanair carried over 200 million passengers last year, up from 140 million in 2019.<\/p>\n
The EU\u2019s emissions trading system (ETS) has not fully addressed the sector\u2019s pollution, as it excludes long-haul flights, which account for a significant portion of emissions. T&E suggests extending the carbon market to all departing flights to increase revenue and accelerate decarbonization.<\/p>\n
While Ryanair defends its growth as taking place on fuel-efficient aircraft, it argues that the ETS system unfairly exempts long-haul flights from emissions pricing, which limits its effectiveness in curbing aviation emissions.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Airline Emissions in Europe Surpass Pre-COVID Levels Despite Pledges to Decarbonize ——————————————— Emissions from aviation in Europe have exceeded pre-pandemic levels, with Ryanair’s carbon footprint increasing by 50% since 2019, new research reveals. Despite promises to reduce emissions and use more fuel-efficient planes, aviation emissions continue to rise, driven by the expansion of low-cost carriers …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":142201,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":{"facebook_108372464460192_245495985553329":""},"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-142202","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-europe"],"yoast_head":"\n