Aviation and the environment

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In common with many other forms of transport, aircraft engines emit polluting gases, contribute to global warming and global dimming, and cause noise pollution.

Modern turbofan and turboprop engines are considerably more fuel-efficient and less polluting than earlier models.

However, despite this, the rapid growth of air travel due in large part to the inefficiency of legacy carriers (in contrast to the newer, more fuel-efficient airplanes operated by low-cost carriers) may contribute to an increase in total pollution attributable to aviation, offseting some of the reductions by automobiles. In the context of global warming and peak oil, there is an ongoing debate about possible taxation of air travel and the inclusion of aviation in an emissions trading scheme, with a view to ensuring that the external costs of aviation are taken into account.