Climate Policy for Aviation - Analyses of measures at multiple levels

Licentiate thesis, 2019

The aviation sector is affected by local, national, multinational (EU) and/or global climate policies targeting domestic, intra-European and intercontinental flights in different and partly overlapping ways. The aim of this thesis is to strengthen further knowledge on climate policy for aviation at multiple governance levels and by doing so contribute to a more informed policy process. This work is done by analysing climate policy, by both qualitative document analysis and energy-economic modelling, concerning aviation.


Our results show that actions to reduce aviation emissions are taken at all geographical levels of governance. On the local level, a surprisingly large share, more than a quarter, of the cities studied are taking policy initiatives to reduce aviation. Moreover, we have recognized that cities tend to choose the system boundary (consumption or territorial perspective) that results in the lowest reported emissions. The major perceived conflict of interest at the local level is economic growth vs reduced air travel. With limited authority within the local setting, such as in the case of aviation emissions, governing by ‘agenda setting’ can be an important channel for cities to express their concerns and support change at higher levels.


On the national level, some countries have policies such as passenger taxes, biofuel blending mandates (from 2020 in Norway) and carbon taxes on jet fuel. National policies in a country within the European Economic Area (EEA) will overlap fully with CORSIA and/or the EU ETS, which adds challenges regarding additionality of the emissions said to be reduced due by the different policies. Further, there is a potential for national policies to be spread and thereby achieve cumulative emissions reduction.