Global Climate Uncertainty and Airlıne Carbon Emissions: Panel Data Evidence From OECD Countries withın Sustainability Accounting Framework
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Abstract
The aviation industry has become a prominent contributor to global carbon emissions because of rising passenger demand and heavy reliance on fossil fuels. At the same time, increasing global climate uncertainty has begun to shape environmental regulations, investment priorities, and sustainability-oriented policy frameworks across countries. Under such uncertainty, airline companies may be encouraged to adopt more risk-averse operational practices, improve fuel efficiency, and invest in technologies aimed at reducing emissions. OECD countries offer a suitable empirical context for examining this relationship due to their relatively stringent environmental standards and broader adoption of sustainable transport policies. From an accounting standpoint, sustainability reporting—an increasingly central component of the accounting discipline—has also gained strategic importance for airline firms. This study investigates the impact of global climate uncertainty on airline-related carbon emissions in OECD countries and evaluates this relationship within a sustainability perspective. The analysis covers 30 OECD member states with complete data for the 2013–2024 period. Employing panel data techniques, the study assesses the effect of the global climate uncertainty index on aviation carbon emissions while controlling Gross Domestic Product (GDP), passenger traffic, and jet fuel consumption. The empirical results reveal that both passenger numbers and jet fuel consumption contribute to higher aviation-related carbon emissions. However, in countries characterized by high passenger volumes and intensive jet fuel use, global climate uncertainty appears to mitigate airline-related carbon emissions.
Keywords
Abstract
The aviation industry has become a prominent contributor to global carbon emissions because of rising passenger demand and heavy reliance on fossil fuels. At the same time, increasing global climate uncertainty has begun to shape environmental regulations, investment priorities, and sustainability-oriented policy frameworks across countries. Under such uncertainty, airline companies may be encouraged to adopt more risk-averse operational practices, improve fuel efficiency, and invest in technologies aimed at reducing emissions. OECD countries offer a suitable empirical context for examining this relationship due to their relatively stringent environmental standards and broader adoption of sustainable transport policies. From an accounting standpoint, sustainability reporting—an increasingly central component of the accounting discipline—has also gained strategic importance for airline firms. This study investigates the impact of global climate uncertainty on airline-related carbon emissions in OECD countries and evaluates this relationship within a sustainability perspective. The analysis covers 30 OECD member states with complete data for the 2013–2024 period. Employing panel data techniques, the study assesses the effect of the global climate uncertainty index on aviation carbon emissions while controlling Gross Domestic Product (GDP), passenger traffic, and jet fuel consumption. The empirical results reveal that both passenger numbers and jet fuel consumption contribute to higher aviation-related carbon emissions. However, in countries characterized by high passenger volumes and intensive jet fuel use, global climate uncertainty appears to mitigate airline-related carbon emissions.
