New research exposes how a handful of global hubs are driving aviation’s worsening climate crisis — and why the sector’s net-zero pledges are increasingly under scrutiny
Three European airports rank among the world’s worst climate offenders, according to sweeping new research that lays bare the aviation industry’s mounting environmental toll. The findings deal a fresh blow to an industry that has repeatedly pledged to reach net-zero by 2050, yet continues to move in the opposite direction.
The analysis, published by global affairs think tank ODI Global in partnership with Transport and Environment (T&E), examined the climate and air quality impacts of 1,300 international airports using 2023 data — the most recent available — sourced from the International Council on Clean Transportation. Its conclusion is stark: if aviation were a country, it would rank as the world’s fifth-largest emitter of greenhouse gases.
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Topping the list of the world’s most polluting airports is Dubai International Airport, the United Arab Emirates’ sprawling global transfer hub, which generated 23.2 million tonnes of CO₂ emissions in 2023. London Heathrow followed closely in second place at 21 million tonnes, with Los Angeles International Airport rounding out the top three at 18.8 million tonnes.
To put those figures in perspective, the combined emissions from these three airports alone rival the total carbon output of the entire city of Paris — aviation excluded.
Seoul’s Incheon Airport ranks fourth on the global list, followed by New York’s John F. Kennedy International. Hong Kong, Paris Charles de Gaulle, and Frankfurt Airport complete the upper tier of the most polluting hubs worldwide.
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Europe’s footprint on the global aviation emissions map is particularly striking. Collectively, European airports produce more CO₂ than hubs across Latin America, the Middle East, and Africa combined — a disparity that underscores the continent’s outsized role in the industry’s climate problem, even as European regulators and airlines position themselves as leaders on sustainability.
The concentration of harm is equally telling. Just 100 airports worldwide account for approximately two-thirds of all CO₂ emissions from passenger flights globally — pointing to a relatively small group of high-traffic hubs driving a disproportionate share of the damage.
Perhaps most damaging for the industry’s public commitments is the research’s central finding: aviation is “off-track” to meet its net-zero targets. Sam Pickard, a research associate at ODI Global, notes that while most major economic sectors have steadily reduced their emissions in the decade since the landmark Paris Agreement of 2015, aviation’s carbon footprint has moved in the opposite direction — rising consistently year on year.
For an industry that has staked much of its environmental credibility on long-term decarbonisation pledges, the data presents an uncomfortable reckoning. The gap between stated ambition and measurable progress has rarely looked wider.