Reporting Gaps in Aviation Emissions

As a highly carbon-intensive sector, transport significantly contributes to global carbon emissions. Aviation accounts for roughly 2% of the total transport-related emissions, which may grow bigger due to the quick recovery of travel demands. While sustainability reports are useful for gauging emissions from airline companies, a study found that gaps and inconsistencies might underestimate the actual numbers in aviation emissions.

Curbing Aviation Emissions

In 2022, aviation emissions had rebounded to almost 800 Mt CO2, equivalent to 80% of pre-pandemic level. This rapid rebound was followed by continuous growth in air travel demand, which increased by 10.7% between May 2023 and May 2024. 

Aligning with the global mission to reduce carbon emissions, the aviation sector has been slowly and partially implementing measures to drive their operations to be more responsible, from releasing sustainability reports to integrating sustainable fuels. Sustainability reports, in particular, can highlight airlines’ emission production throughout their operation chains.

One of the international standards of emission reporting is the Greenhouse Gas Protocol (GHG Protocol), which requires businesses to explain their emissions based on three scopes:

• Scope 1 emissions are direct emissions from owned or controlled sources. 
• Scope 2 emissions are indirect emissions from the generation of purchased energy. 
• Scope 3 emissions are all indirect emissions (not included in Scope 2) that occur in the value chain of the reporting company, including both upstream and downstream emissions.

Gaps and Inconsistencies

The level of comprehensiveness of aviation emission reporting can differ according to the company’s level of maturity. In a study, a team of researchers led by Professor Stefan Gössling identified gaps and inconsistencies in airlines’ annual reporting based on an evaluation of the world’s 26 largest airlines in the Bloomberg World Airline Index.

The study finds that out of 26 airlines, only ten have consistently reported all three scopes between 2019 and 2022. Available data suggests that direct energy use (Scope 1) emissions remain the biggest contributor to global aviation emissions, followed by Scope 3 and 2. 

However, the report finds some inconsistencies in Scope 3 reporting between airlines. For instance, several airlines did not include employee commuting in their report. “While it is possible that airlines do not cause emissions in some categories, it is evident that all of them have employees commuting to work; all of them are also likely to generate waste,” the study stated. 

Furthermore, there are several instances where gaps in the same categories were too large between airlines. These findings suggest that Scope 3 emissions are still largely underreported and could affect the sector’s overall net-zero goals, frameworks, and investments.

Better Reporting Mechanism Required

Based on the findings, the study concludes that the aviation industry might be more carbon-intensive than what is currently understood. This poses further challenges to the already difficult effort to decarbonize the aviation sector.
More unified and consistent approaches to reporting for aviation emissions are required. Additionally, key regulators in the sector, including governments and international organizations, must apply strict mandatory reporting frameworks to ensure accountability and transparency and create concrete progress toward decarbonization.

Editor: Nazalea Kusuma

Kresentia Madina

Reporter at Green Network Asia | Website |  + postsBio

Madina is the Assistant Manager of Stakeholder Engagement at Green Network Asia. She holds a bachelor’s degree in English Studies from Universitas Indonesia. As part of the GNA In-House Team, she supports the organization's multi-stakeholder engagement across international organizations, governments, businesses, civil society, and grassroots communities through digital publications, events, capacity building, and research.

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