As Europe swelters in a heatwave linked to climate change, Dublin Airport is as busy as ever. Electric planes are years away, biofuels are scarce and carbon offsetting is questionable. So just how do we cut our emissions?
Air travel is responsible for about 3.5pc of the warming impact caused by humans
Summer in Ireland and summer in southern Europe could hardly have looked more different this week. Temperatures pushed into the mid-40s in parts of the continent, topping 47C in Italy, and factory workers in Greece threatened to strike over the scorching heat. Wildfires raged in Greece, Spain and Switzerland.
At the same time, passengers thronged Dublin Airport’s departure halls, keen to escape a grey and wet July. The Irish Travel Agents Association suggests that very few holidaymakers cancelled their trips, even as tourists in southern Europe warned of “unbearable” and “scary” heat.
