{"id":419235,"date":"2025-12-30T19:16:17","date_gmt":"2025-12-30T18:16:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=419235"},"modified":"2025-12-30T19:16:20","modified_gmt":"2025-12-30T18:16:20","slug":"contrails-and-their-claimed-climatic-effect","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=419235","title":{"rendered":"Contrails and their claimed climatic effect"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"An<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From Watts Up With That?<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

By Anthony Watts<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

From the \u201ccontrails, NOT chemtrails department\u201d comes this research that seems to exist only to make airline travel look to be bad for the planet. \u2013 Anthony<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Contrails are a major driver of aviation\u2019s climate impact<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Aviation\u2019s climate impact extends beyond carbon dioxide emissions. A new study from Chalmers University of Technology and the University of Gothenburg, Sweden, and Imperial College, UK, reveals that contrails can represent a significant portion of aviation\u2019s overall climate cost. The study also shows that climate impact can be reduced by optimising flight routes.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a new article in Nature Communications, The social costs of aviation CO<\/em>\u2082<\/em> and contrail cirrus<\/em><\/a>, the researchers demonstrate that both CO\u2082 emissions and contrail formation contribute materially to aviation\u2019s climate impact \u2013 and that the associated societal costs differ substantially depending on weather patterns and routing decisions. They find that, at the global level, contrails account for about 15 percent of aviation\u2019s climate impact when measured in economic terms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After also analyzing nearly half a million flights across the North Atlantic, the research team has generated new insights that can support both industry and policymakers in guiding aviation towards more climate optimal operations. Drawing on extensive flight and meteorological data, in combination with a contrail model and an advanced climate-economy model, the researchers estimated the climate and societal cost attributable to each emission source.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOur research provides a basis for strategies to reduce the climate impact of contrails. Our calculations can be used for optimisation of flight routes where climate impact is considered alongside, for example, fuel cost and travel time. The results give airline operators and air traffic management new tools for climate optimisation. This could bring significant climate and societal benefits,\u201d says Susanne Pettersson, postdoctoral researcher at the Department of Space, Earth and Environment at Chalmers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The study shows that 38 percent of flights generate contrails that have a warming effect. It also shows that it would be beneficial from a climate perspective to reduce the formation of contrails of almost all these flights through minor rerouting, to avoid contrail formation, even if this results in slightly higher carbon dioxide emissions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe new knowledge also provides a foundation for designing new regulations and policy instruments to reduce aviation\u2019s climate impact. The European Commission is currently working on proposals to steer aviation towards lower climate impact, and our new study can hopefully support this process,\u201d says Daniel Johansson, associate professor at the Department of Space, Earth and Environment at Chalmers and one of the lead authors of the next IPCC climate report.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Learn more on contrails, aviation and climate change: Read an article written by the researchers as a Resources For the Future (RFF) issue in brief.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

Journal<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Nature Communications DOI 10.1038\/s41467-025-64355-5 <\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

From the \u201ccontrails, NOT chemtrails department\u201d comes this research that seems to exist only to make airline travel look to be bad for the planet.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":121246920,"featured_media":419238,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","_crdt_document":"","advanced_seo_description":"Discover how contrails significantly impact aviation's climate cost and learn strategies for optimizing flight routes to reduce this effect.","jetpack_seo_html_title":"The Climate Impact of Contrails: Key Findings from Research","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":true,"token":"eyJpbWciOiJodHRwczpcL1wvY2xpbWF0ZS1zY2llbmNlLnByZXNzXC93cC1jb250ZW50XC91cGxvYWRzXC8yMDI1XC8xMlwvMFNjcmVlbnNob3QtMjAyNS0xMi0zMC0xOTE0MjctMTAyNHg1NzcucG5nIiwidHh0IjoiQ29udHJhaWxzIGFuZCB0aGVpciBjbGFpbWVkIGNsaW1hdGljIGVmZmVjdCIsInRlbXBsYXRlIjoiaGlnaHdheSIsImZvbnQiOiIiLCJibG9nX2lkIjoxNTU4MTI0NDl9.5XjST6cAB_FkysarjfrLrgG7oWZGha4VIPsoUT4XUHMMQ"},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[691840427,691829997,691835022,691834857],"class_list":{"0":"post-419235","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","6":"hentry","7":"category-uncategorized","8":"tag-aviations-climate-impact","9":"tag-carbon-dioxide-co","10":"tag-co-emissions","11":"tag-contrails","13":"fallback-thumbnail"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/0Screenshot-2025-12-30-191427.png?fit=1673%2C943&ssl=1","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/paxLW1-1L3R","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":377077,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=377077","url_meta":{"origin":419235,"position":0},"title":"A Simple, Factual, and Sensible Rebuttal to the Chemtrail Conspiracy Theory","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"05\/02\/2025","format":false,"excerpt":"The\u00a0chemtrail conspiracy theory\u00a0alleges that aircraft contrails are chemical agents deliberately sprayed for sinister purposes. This theory is unsupported by scientific evidence and contradicts well-established atmospheric science, logistical realities, and environmental data. Below is a concise rebuttal addressing key misconceptions, with additional references to strengthen the argument.","rel":"","context":"In \"chemical spraying\"","block_context":{"text":"chemical spraying","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?tag=chemical-spraying"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/06718deb8-c22e-4a30-8a41-8c201ff645db.png?fit=1024%2C1024&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/06718deb8-c22e-4a30-8a41-8c201ff645db.png?fit=1024%2C1024&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/06718deb8-c22e-4a30-8a41-8c201ff645db.png?fit=1024%2C1024&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/06718deb8-c22e-4a30-8a41-8c201ff645db.png?fit=1024%2C1024&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":371020,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=371020","url_meta":{"origin":419235,"position":1},"title":"Does the Air Force Own the Weather in 2025? Origins of the Chemtrail Theory","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"03\/20\/2025","format":false,"excerpt":"2025\u00a0isn\u2019t just the current year, or a Heritage Foundation project of conservative principles for political action for the new Republican President. 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It can save decimation of farmer livelihoods by mitigating droughts, and it can risk the global food supply by reducing crop growth. 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