Airfreight volumes limit emission impact

Airfreight may not be the greenest of options to choose, but when it comes to the greater scheme of transport carbon emissions, it does not even get tallied. According to Pieter Fourie, a senior researcher from the University of Stellenbosch, modes of transport like airfreight, pipelines and shipping are not major contributors to CO2 emissions compared to road and rail. South Africa’s total transport emissions are estimated to be in the region of 48 million tons of the total emissions of 450 million tons. Of this road freight is responsible for about 20 million tons and rail freight four million tons. Passenger transport makes up the other 24 million tons, said Fourie. “While airfreight is high in carbon emissions, the amount of freight moved on it is so negligible it is not even reckoned into the calculations.”