As global climate regulations become more stringent, especially with mechanisms such as carbon offsetting and the integration of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF), the aviation industry faces growing scrutiny over its environmental accountability. A business today article reads - Airlines debate passing carbon offset cost to customers. Now this brings us to the Polluter Pays Principle (PPP) -  a foundational concept in environmental economics and public international environmental law, enshrined in instruments such as Principle 16 of the 1992 Rio Declaration. The PPP says that the polluter should bear the full cost of managing it. Period!

However, upcoming emissions obligations, such as those under CORSIA show substantial tensions in the practical application of this principle. Airlines argue that their financial margins are too narrow to absorb the rising costs of offsets or low-emission fuels, leading to calls for either government subsidies or passing the costs onto consumers. Such cost externalisation represents a conceptual weakening of the Polluters’ Pay Principle. If the responsibility of emissions mitigation is deflected onto passengers or the public, then the actors who are mostly capable of influencing operational and technological shifts ( read the airlines ) avoid the financial and ethical responsibility for their environmental impact.

Theoretically, the PPP is not merely an economic tool but a normative framework that aims to ensure fairness, efficiency, and environmental justice. It incentivises behavioral change by assigning accountability to those who profit from environmentally harmful practices. The aviation industry’s deflection of these costs undermines this particular rationale, thus creating a moral grey area where pollution continues unchecked unless offset by external actors.

In fast-growing aviation markets like India, where affordability might be an issue, these debates also come with a perspective of equity. While consumers do contribute indirectly to emissions through demand, they typically lack the agency to influence emission pathways or technological investments. Thus, under PPP, it remains the obligation of airlines as corporate entities to bear the costs associated with reducing their carbon footprint.

Therefore, upholding the integrity of PPP in aviation will require not only regulatory enforcement but a shift in how polluting industries perceive their role in climate mitigation.