Irish budget carrier Ryanair has become the first non-coal company in Europe to become a top 10 carbon emitter.

The airline carries 130 million people a year and declared 9.9 megatonnes of greenhouse gas emissions in 2018, up 6.9 per cent on 2017 and 49 per cent over the past five years, according to the EU’s emissions trading system (ETS) registry.

 

Andrew Murphy, the aviation manager at the European Federation for Transport and Environment called Ryanair "the new coal". 

 

EasyJet was the next worst airline in 31st place, followed by Lufthansa, Norwegian and British Airways, according to analysts.

 

Aviation currently is responsible for about three per cent of Europe’s greenhouse gas emissions, but the figure is expected to rise.