| Airbus’s factory in Hamburg, Germany, and its counterpart in Toulouse, southwest France, delivered 325 aircraft in 2001. Between them, they share the assembly of the European constructor’s five families of aircraft, soon to be joined by the superjumbo A380, which will carry 555 passengers and come into service in 2006. Air transport is growing at 6 percent. It produces the highest emissions of greenhouse gases, such as carbon dioxide (CO2), which contribute to global warming. Passenger aircraft emit twice as much greenhouse gas per passenger mile as cars, and six times as much as trains. Freight aircraft produce six times as much CO2 as trucks and eighty times as much as ships and trains. To reduce the risk to the planet’s climate, world emissions of CO2 would need to be halved or cut to a third of their present levels. This would involve, for each of the world’s 6 billion inhabitants, an annual quota of just 0.5 tons of carbon emitted into the atmosphere. At present, the average American emits 6 tons of carbon per year, a European 2 tons, and an Indian just 0.3 tons. Taking a single transatlantic air journey would be enough for an individual to use up this quota.
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