New wind patterns cause longer flights worsening climate change

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onger flights would burn more fuel and contribute more to climate change, a study suggests

Flights over the Pacific Ocean have gotten longer due to climate change-related changes in wind patterns, a shift that could be mirrored in other regions across the globe, according to new research.

Air travel currently accounts for more than 3% of the carbon emissions driving human-caused climate change, and the study, published in the journal Nature Climate Change, suggests a feedback loop where longer flight times lead to greater carbon emissions and vice versa. If flight lengths continue to grow as climate change intensifies, so will the industry’s carbon emissions.

Read the Time story - “How Climate Change Could Make Your Flights Longer”.