Aviation is responsible for roughly 2.5 percent of global carbon dioxide emissions. Aircraft also release nitrogen oxides, aerosols, and contrails—emissions which, taken together, may warm the planet as much as aviation’s CO₂ output alone. Some contrails can linger and spread into thin cirrus clouds that trap heat, persistently altering the climate below.
www.anthropocenemagazine.org/2026/03/contrails-are-a-climate-puzzle-written-across-the-sky/