Sustainability and Environment
Report Focuses on Aviation Contrail Climate Effects
Studies show an outsized impact from the exhaust cloud trails
contrails
Lingering exhaust contrails, produced under certain conditions, can have a strong impact on the environment, according to studies. © NASA

A new report from aircraft charter broker Victor and industry sustainability solutions provider 4Air highlights the impact private jet contrails can have on the environment. Contrails are formed by jet engine emissions interacting with the proper combination of humidity and temperature in the upper atmosphere. Depending on the location and time of day, long-lasting contrails can have an “outsized warming impact, trapping and absorbing heat that would otherwise radiate back into space.”

Climatologists refer to the intensity of atmospheric warming in terms of effective radiative forcing (ERF), and according to a white paper from Contrails Org, the ERF from all aviation CO2 emissions from 1940 to 2019 is similar to the ERF caused by contrails alone in 2019.

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