Copenhagen – The International Air Transport Association (IATA) welcomed the Copenhagen Accord as an important step in the right direction for climate change. Aviation emissions were not addressed specifically in the Accord, a reflection of the pro-active measures the industry has taken to set challenging targets for itself, together with an aggressive strategy to achieve them. The industry will continue to work towards achieving these global targets, which were recognized by the member states of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) at its High Level Meeting on Environment in October 2009 and which were commended by UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon at a meeting with Giovanni Bisignani, IATA’s Director General and CEO, in New York later that month. IATA will continue to work with ICAO to develop a global framework for managing aviations emissions.
“We came to Copenhagen to be part of the deal and we were encouraged by the level of support for the industry’s global sectoral approach and targets. We will continue to press states to include these global targets in any future deal,” said Bisignani. “Airlines, airports, air navigation service providers and manufacturers are reinforced in their commitment (1) to improve fuel efficiency by an average of 1.5% per year to 2020, (2) to stabilize carbon emissions from 2020 with carbon-neutral growth, and (3) to a net reduction in carbon emissions of 50% by 2050 compared to 2005,” he added.
Bisignani said, “We also found consensus among the delegations that a global sectoral approach should be established for aviation emissions by ICAO, the UN’s specialized agency for aviation. We will work closely with ICAO to prepare a global framework for managing aviation’s emissions for the ICAO Assembly to consider in September 2010. And we will urge governments to ensure this framework is presented to COP16 in December 2010. In the meantime we continue to urge governments to avoid creating a patchwork of national and regional solutions and to ensure aviation’s emissions are dealt with as a sector and across the world. A global sectoral approach supported by tough targets is the only sensible way forward for a global industry.”
A Global Sectoral Approach, under ICAO, to manage aviation’s emissions will ensure a level playing field. The approach consists of three main elements:
Full accounting for aviation’s emissions as a global industrial sector, not by state.
Global coordination of economic measures to ensure that aviation will not pay more than once for its emissions
Full access to global carbon markets
The aviation industry is already working towards its climate change goals through its four pillar strategy. The strategy focuses on investing in new technology, flying smarter, building efficient infrastructure, and taking advantage of positive economic measures.