Dubai, London Heathrow, & Los Angeles Airports Produce Three Times As Much CO2 As The Entire City Of Paris

New research from ODI Global, in partnership with Transport & Environment (T&E) and supported by data from the International Council on Clean Transportation (ICCT), highlights the significant environmental impact of the world’s busiest airports. The 2026 Airport Tracker report reveals that in 2023, Dubai, London Heathrow, and Los Angeles airports collectively emitted three times more CO2 than the entire city of Paris. London, with six airports including Heathrow—the world’s second most polluting airport—leads in airport-related emissions across multiple pollutants such as nitrous oxide, carbon monoxide, hydrocarbons, and particulate matter. The study underscores the disproportionate contribution of a small number of airports to global aviation emissions. Just 20 airports produced more emissions than a typical coal-fired power plant in 2023, with five major hubs—Dubai, Heathrow, Los Angeles, Seoul Incheon, and New York JFK—each generating four times that amount. Globally, 100 airports are responsible for about two-thirds of CO2 emissions from passenger flights, with the United States and China alone accounting for over a third of total emissions. Notably, European airports emit more CO2 than the combined total from Latin America, the Middle East, and Africa. Experts involved in the research have criticised ongoing plans for airport expansion, arguing that they conflict with climate goals and public health priorities. Denise Auclair of T&E emphasised that expanding fossil fuel-dependent aviation infrastructure undermines efforts to reduce emissions and improve air quality, particularly in European capitals where the economic justification for growth is increasingly questionable. Sam Pickard from ODI Global called for a comprehensive strategy that includes demand management, warning that reliance on costly sustainable aviation fuels and weak offset schemes will not suffice to curb aviation’s rising emissions. The findings reinforce the aviation sector’s failure to align with the Paris Agreement targets, with emissions from the 1,300 airports tracked reaching over one billion tonnes of CO2 in 2023. If aviation were a country, it would rank as the fifth largest emitter globally. The report calls for urgent policy interventions to limit airport capacity growth and prioritise climate, air quality, and noise reduction measures to mitigate the sector’s outsized environmental footprint.