Ryanair has topped the table of European airlines emitting CO2 in 2012 with a verified 7.5 million tonnes. Lufthansa ranked second with 4.9 million tonnes and easyJet was third with 4.6 million tonnes.
Overall verified airlines operating in the EU emitted 55m tonnes of CO2 in total, the preliminary EU data shows.
Although 742 airlines are listed by the EU in its provisional data, only 506 are shown to have verified their emissions. Of the larger airlines, Air France, Air Berlin and SAS did not submit their data on time. Only 440 airlines received freely allocated allowances from the EU.
Airlines now have until 30 April to surrender their carbon credits – if this deadline is missed, the airline will be fined €100 per tonne. Much more than the average price for one tonne of carbon, which is around €7.55.