CO2 emissions from checked baggage exceed those of 156 countries

 

Table of Contents

1：Global CO2 Emissions from Checked Baggage

2：CO2 emission reduction effect without checked baggage

1：Global CO2 Emissions from Checked Baggage

We have previously analyzed the reduction in CO2 emissions by not carrying checked baggage on airplanes to Japan. This time, we will analyze CO2 emissions from checked baggage in the global airline industry.

According to “Project Drawdown,” CO2 emissions from the global aviation industry accounted for about 2.6% of global emissions in 2018. According to the World Bank, global CO2 emissions in 2018 were 34.29 billion tons (34.34 billion tons in 2019), which means that CO2 emissions from the aviation industry were 890 million tons in 2018. Note that according to the International Air Transport Association (IATA), CO2 emissions from the aviation industry in 2019 were 910 million tons.

According to IATA, the global air passenger transport distance (paid passenger kilometers) in 2019 was 8.68 trillion kilometers. Therefore, if all airplanes carried 20 kg of checked baggage by each passenger, 14.51 million tons of CO2 emissions would be from checked baggage. This is 0.3% of the global CO2 emissions of 34.34 billion tons in 2019. It is also 0.23% of global greenhouse gas emissions of 46.29 billion tons of CO2 equivalent in 2019.

The CO2 emissions from checked baggage (20 kg) are based on the data provided by ECTA (European Chemical Transport Association) in their “Guidelines for Measuring and Managing CO2 Emission from Freight Transport Operations 2011” of ECTA (The European Clean Trucking Alliance). The CO2 emissions intensity per ton-kilometer of cargo transported by airplanes used in the calculation is 0.602 kgCO2/tkm.

2：CO2 emission reduction effect without checked baggage

You may think that 0.3% of global CO2 emissions are small, but 104.51 million tons of CO2 emissions in more than 156 countries, including 96.29 million tons in the Czech Republic and 93.01 million tons in Belgium. You can see how significant the reduction of checked baggage is.

 

Annual CO2 emissions (million tonnes、2019)

World	34,344	100.0%
High income	12,126	35.3%
OECD members	11,611	33.8%
China	10,707	31.2%
United States	4,818	14.0%
India	2,456	7.2%
Russian Federation	1,704	5.0%
Japan	1,082	3.1%
Germany	657	1.9%
Global aviation industry	914.0	2.7%
Worldwide checked baggage (20 kg)	104.5	0.30%
Czechia	96.3	0.28%
Belgium	93.0	0.27%
Kuwait	92.7	0.27%
Qatar	92.0	0.27%
Chile	91.4	0.27%
Bangladesh	90.7	0.26%
Colombia	81.0	0.24%
Oman	76.0	0.22%
Romania	73.9	0.22%
Turkmenistan	72.9	0.21%
Morocco	71.5	0.21%
Austria	64.8	0.19%
Israel	62.7	0.18%
Greece	60.0	0.17%
Belarus	57.7	0.17%
Libya	56.8	0.17%
Peru	56.8	0.17%
Korea, Dem. People's Rep.	56.0	0.16%
Singapore	47.4	0.14%
Hungary	46.4	0.14%
Serbia	46.0	0.13%
Portugal	44.6	0.13%
Finland	40.7	0.12%
Ecuador	39.3	0.11%
Bulgaria	39.1	0.11%
Caribbean small states	37.9	0.11%
Switzerland	37.4	0.11%
Myanmar	36.7	0.11%
Norway	36.0	0.10%
Ireland	35.8	0.10%
Azerbaijan	35.5	0.10%
Sweden	35.0	0.10%
New Zealand	34.0	0.10%
Bahrain	33.3	0.10%
Slovak Republic	31.1	0.09%
Tunisia	29.9	0.09%
Denmark	29.7	0.09%
Lebanon	28.0	0.08%
Dominican Republic	27.2	0.08%
Cuba	25.9	0.08%
Syrian Arab Republic	25.7	0.07%
Angola	25.2	0.07%
Jordan	24.6	0.07%
Sri Lanka	23.8	0.07%
Mongolia	23.1	0.07%
Bolivia	22.3	0.07%
Kenya	22.3	0.06%
Bosnia and Herzegovina	21.1	0.06%
Sudan	20.6	0.06%
Ghana	20.0	0.06%
Guatemala	19.3	0.06%
Lao PDR	18.7	0.05%
Ethiopia	18.4	0.05%
Trinidad and Tobago	17.2	0.05%
Croatia	16.5	0.05%
Cambodia	16.2	0.05%
Slovenia	13.6	0.04%
Nepal	13.4	0.04%
Panama	13.3	0.04%
Tanzania	12.4	0.04%
Zimbabwe	11.8	0.03%
Lithuania	11.7	0.03%
Yemen, Rep.	11.1	0.03%
Cote d'Ivoire	10.8	0.03%
Senegal	10.6	0.03%
Honduras	10.2	0.03%
Estonia	10.2	0.03%
Georgia	10.1	0.03%
Kyrgyz Republic	10.1	0.03%
Luxembourg	9.5	0.03%
Cameroon	9.4	0.03%
Tajikistan	9.4	0.03%
Moldova	8.9	0.03%
Jamaica	8.4	0.02%
North Macedonia	8.3	0.02%
Costa Rica	8.2	0.02%
Paraguay	8.2	0.02%
El Salvador	7.8	0.02%
Papua New Guinea	7.6	0.02%
Latvia	7.6	0.02%
Mozambique	7.5	0.02%
Benin	7.3	0.02%
Congo, Rep.	7.3	0.02%
Botswana	7.3	0.02%
Cyprus	7.2	0.02%
Brunei Darussalam	7.0	0.02%
Zambia	6.8	0.02%
Uruguay	6.5	0.02%
Armenia	6.2	0.02%

Source: World Bank, International Air Transport Association (IATA), ECTA, our calculations

Note: Countries with the highest CO2 emissions and countries with lower CO2 emissions from checked baggage are selected.

 

We analyzed that the reduction in CO2 emissions per year (average of 1.8 trips) from one traveler without 20 kg of luggage traveling to Japan was 137 kg ( “Comparison of 87 CO2 reduction projects“).

145.51 million tonnes of CO2 emissions were from checked baggage worldwide. So dividing this by the 4.543 billion annual number of passengers worldwide, translates into 23 kg of CO2 emissions per person each way. The round-trip CO2 emissions would be 46 kg, and the reduction in CO2 emissions per year per traveler (for one trip per year) by not carrying 20 kg of baggage on board the aircraft would be the 26th largest effect (per global population) of the measures listed in the “Project Drawdown.”

 

Annual CO2 emissions reduction per capita (kg)

	SOLUTION	World population	OECD poluration	High income population
1	Reduced Food Waste	377.2	2,152.9	2,377.3
2	Plant-Rich Diets	333.8	1,905.5	2,104.1
3	Family Planning and Education	293.7	1,676.1	1,850.8
4	Refrigerant Management	243.6	1,390.3	1,535.2
5	Tropical Forest Restoration	232.1	1,324.6	1,462.6
6	Onshore Wind Turbines	200.1	1,142.1	1,261.2
7	Alternative Refrigerants	182.1	1,039.5	1,147.8
8	Utility-Scale Solar Photovoltaics	174.0	993.3	1,096.8
9	Clean Cooking	133.7	763.4	842.9
10	Distributed Solar Photovoltaics	113.6	648.3	715.9
11	Silvopasture	113.3	646.6	714.0
12	Methane Leak Management	110.1	628.4	693.9
13	Peatland Protection and Rewetting	108.3	617.9	682.3
14	Tree Plantations (on Degraded Land)	93.9	536.2	592.0
15	Temperate Forest Restoration	82.8	472.4	521.7
16	Concentrated Solar Power	76.7	437.9	483.5
17	Perennial Staple Crops	69.6	397.5	438.9
18	Insulation	65.6	374.1	413.1
19	Regenerative Annual Cropping	64.4	367.8	406.2
20	Tree Intercropping	64.1	365.6	403.7
21	LED Lighting	61.6	351.5	388.2
22	Managed Grazing	58.5	333.8	368.5
23	Multistrata Agroforestry	56.5	322.6	356.2
24	Conservation Agriculture	54.6	311.6	344.1
25	Abandoned Farmland Restoration	53.2	303.6	335.2
	Reduced 20kg luggage	46.0
26	Recycling	44.2	252.0	278.3
27	Offshore Wind Turbines	43.6	248.6	274.5
28	Improved Rice Production	42.0	239.6	264.6
29	Building Automation Systems	40.7	232.3	256.5
30	Public Transit	40.1	229.2	253.0
31	Efficient Trucks	39.0	222.6	245.8
32	Carpooling	38.6	220.4	243.4
33	High-Performance Glass	37.6	214.6	236.9
34	Indigenous Peoples’ Forest Tenure	37.0	211.4	233.4
35	Bamboo Production	32.8	187.3	206.8
36	Alternative Cement	32.8	187.3	206.8
37	Electric Cars	32.6	186.3	205.8
38	Smart Thermostats	29.5	168.1	185.6
39	Efficient Ocean Shipping	28.6	163.5	180.5
40	Waste to Energy	26.7	152.5	168.4
41	District Heating	26.3	150.3	166.0
42	Geothermal Power	26.2	149.6	165.2
43	Methane Digesters	25.7	146.4	161.7
44	Forest Protection	23.7	135.0	149.1
45	Efficient Aviation	22.5	128.7	142.1
46	Biogas for Cooking	19.8	113.1	124.9
47	Improved Cattle Feed	18.8	107.5	118.7
48	Recycled Metals	18.4	104.8	115.8
49	High-Efficiency Heat Pumps	17.2	98.3	108.5
50	Perennial Biomass Production	17.0	97.3	107.4
51	Seafloor Protection	16.2	92.4	102.1
52	Reduced Plastics	16.0	91.5	101.0
53	Solar Hot Water	14.5	83.0	91.6
54	Grassland Protection	14.3	81.5	90.0
55	Improved Manure Management	14.2	81.3	89.7
56	Nuclear Power	13.5	77.1	85.2
57	System of Rice Intensification	12.4	70.5	77.9
58	Walkable Cities	12.1	68.8	76.0
59	Nutrient Management	11.8	67.4	74.4
60	Bicycle Infrastructure	11.6	66.4	73.3
61	Telepresence	11.3	64.2	70.9
62	Biomass Power	11.2	63.7	70.4
63	Macroalgae Protection and Restoration	11.1	63.5	70.1
64	Seaweed Farming	10.7	60.8	67.2
65	Recycled Paper	9.7	55.5	61.2
66	Electric Trains	8.1	46.5	51.3
	Reduced 20kg luggage		46.0	46.0
67	Small Hydropower	7.0	40.1	44.3
68	Hybrid Cars	6.9	39.2	43.2
69	Electric Bicycles	5.9	33.8	37.3
70	Biochar Production	5.8	33.1	36.5
71	Sustainable Intensification for Smallholders	5.8	33.1	36.5
72	Bioplastics	5.7	32.4	35.7
73	Ocean Power	5.4	30.9	34.1
74	High-Speed Rail	5.4	30.7	33.8
75	Coastal Wetland Protection	5.1	29.2	32.2
76	Farm Irrigation Efficiency	4.8	27.5	30.4
77	Composting	4.8	27.5	30.4
78	Improved Fisheries	4.3	24.6	27.1
79	Low-Flow Fixtures	4.0	22.6	25.0
80	Coastal Wetland Restoration	3.2	18.5	20.4
81	Water Distribution Efficiency	2.6	14.8	16.4
82	Green and Cool Roofs	2.3	12.9	14.2
83	Recycled Plastics	2.2	12.6	14.0
84	Improved Aquaculture	2.1	12.2	13.4
85	Dynamic Glass	1.4	8.3	9.1
86	Micro Wind Turbines	0.4	2.2	2.4

Source: Project Drawdown, Japan Tourism Agency, International Air Transport Association (IATA), ECTA, our calculations.

Note: Calculated according to Scenario 1 of Project Drawdown.

 

81% of global travelers and 73% of Japanese travelers say that sustainable travel is important to them. Travelers who recognize the importance of sustainable travel should consider not bringing checked baggage. Without checked baggage is the best sustainable travel.

If you don’t bring checked baggage and rent what you need locally, you can have an “easy trip,” as there is no need to prepare and carry baggage or to wash and clean up after you return home. This “easy travel” will make increasing the number of trips for people such as the elderly, disabled people, and families traveling with children. This “easy travel” will also bridge the “Travel Divide.” Please consider using our travel rental service.