T&E: Tackling contrails could delay aviation's climate impact by a decade (report)

“Contrails, the white lines left by planes, are the low-hanging fruit of aviation decarbonization," states a report published by T&E on 22 September 2026 and authored by Klima Consulting and former IPCC scientist Olivier Boucher.

“Contrails contribute to global warming at a similar level to aviation’s CO₂ emissions, despite being produced by only a small share of flights,” according to the report. Preventing their formation could postpone aviation-related global warming by a decade, with the sector's contribution to global warming reaching 0.08°C in 2050 rather than in 2040, T&E says.

If action begins in 2030, cutting contrail warming in half could avoid roughly 0.025°C of additional warming by 2050, rising to 0.049°C by 2070. That means contrail avoidance could reclaim 3-5 percentage…