The aviation industry contributes to around 2% of worldwide anthropogenic carbon dioxide emissions, according to the government's report to Parliament on Thursday. In response to a question from the Rajya Sabha, Union Environment Minister Bhupender Yadav stated that carbon dioxide is by far the most concerning greenhouse gas.
“According to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), global warming is a result of greenhouse gas emissions due to all anthropogenic activities related primarily to the use of fossil fuels and land-use and land-use change including aviation. Of these, carbon dioxide is overwhelmingly the key greenhouse gas of concern. As per the 2019 Environmental Report of the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO), the aviation sector accounts for approximately 2% of global anthropogenic CO2 emissions, including international and domestic aviation," Yadav stated in his written response.
“As per the World Meteorological Organisation, the global mean temperature for 2021 was about 1.11°C above the preindustrial (1850-1900) levels. Studies show that average temperature over India has warmed around 0.7˚C during 1901-2018 and similar warming has been observed in the sea-surface temperature in the tropical Indian Ocean by 1˚C for 1951-2015. Rise in temperature may result in exacerbating frequency and intensity of extreme weather events including, inter alia, cyclones, heavy rains, storm surges, and heat waves,” he stated.
He stated that India has taken measures to gradually decouple development from emissions, and that the emission intensity of India's GDP has decreased by 24% between 2005 and 2016.
(Inputs from PTI)
