Ryanair among Europe’s 10 biggest polluters

FRANKFURT: Ryanair Holdings Plc was one of the 10 biggest polluters in Europe last year, a first for a company that doesn’t run coal-fired power plants.

That’s the conclusion of analysis of European Union carbon emissions data undertaken by Transport & Environment, a Brussels-based research group.

The group found Ryanair’s carbon dioxide emissions rose 6.9 per cent last year.

The findings underscore the airline industry’s rising contribution to greenhouse gases blamed for damaging the climate. Pollution from airlines has risen by about two-thirds since 2005 and is forecast to keep rising as flying becomes more affordable.

That puts the industry on course to become the singlebiggest emitter in three decades.

Other industries are managing to cut their output of harmful substances. Last year, the European Union Emissions Trading System recorded an 3.8 per cent reduction in greenhouse gases.

Nations from Germany to the United Kingdom are phasing out coal plants to curb emissions.

Ryanair was ninth on the list of top polluters in Europe. The remaining slots in the top 10 were taken by utilities that generate electricity from coal, the dirtiest fossil fuel.

But Ryanair said in a statement it “is Europe’s greenest and cleanest airline” and that “passengers travelling on Ryanair have the lowest CO2 emissions per kilometre travelled than any other airline.”

The International Civil Aviation Organisation recently moved to address aviation emissions by adopting rules with self-policing elements.

Those call for offsetting any carbon increases by planting trees or investing in cleaner technologies.

Critics of the plan said offsets had already been tried and didn’t work, in part because they were hard to police.

EU emissions covered by the region’s carbon market resumed a decline last year after rising slightly in 2017, according to preliminary data.