Government ready to compensate for its flight-related CO2 emissions

CO2 emissions from official flights by Luxembourg’s state apparatus are already being calculated. Since the beginning of 2022, government aircraft has emitted 619 tons of CO2 into the atmosphere. From 2023, the state plans to compensate accordingly for these harmful emissions. This was confirmed by Prime Minister Xavier Bettel as well as ministers of economy and environment.

So far, compensations will only apply to air travel. The reasons are simple. Airplanes are the «dirtiest» mode of transportation. And CO2 emissions are much easier to calculate for them than for cars or trains. The exact price of one ton of CO2 will be determined during the the budget approval for 2023.

Compensations will be used to protect nature and the environment. For example, they will partially finance the Climate and Energy Fund. Moreover, it is planned to closely monitor the allocated money and measure their real effect. These funds should be spent on reducing CO2 emissions, forestation and adapting the country to climate change.

However, most of these harmful CO2 emissions occur outside the Grand Duchy. Therefore, the government is already allocating money for “international climate financing” planned for 2021-2025. With this program, Luxembourg plans to provide 220 million euros of assistance to developing countries. The use of this allocated money will also be strictly certified.

The Grand Duchy is rapidly taking action to protect the environment. For example, the municipalities of Luxembourg have decided to create more environment-friendly spaces within cities.