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General
Climate change is one of the greatest challenges of this century. To address this challenge a clear path forward aiming at the reduction and stabilization of emissions to a level that does not endanger the globe is essential. Negotiations are taking place in the United Nations to get the necessary agreement on the best way forward and on the specific roles of all of those involved in achieving this goal. ICAO is fully engaged to achieve a global solution to address emissions from international civil aviation. Total CO2 emissions from the aviation sector (domestic and international operations) currently account for 2% of total global emissions (IPCC 2007). Approximately 40% of which represents domestic aviation emissions.
Scheduled aviation traffic grew at an average rate of 4%between 2001 and 2008. Global air traffic, expressed in terms of passenger-kilometres performed, is projected to decline by approximately 4% in 2009. This forecast reflects the worsening of economic prospects as the world GDP is projected to shrink by approximately 1.7%. As the economy improves, a moderate recovery is forecast for the year 2010 with a positive growth rate of about 3.3% and continued growth of 5.5% in 2011. Scheduled traffic is anticipated to grow at an average rate of 4.6 per cent per year through 2025.
Preliminary results indicate that the demand for air travel is expect to continue to grow through at least 2036 and on a per-flight basis; efficiency is expected to continue to improve throughout that period. The anticipated gain in efficiency from technological and operational measures is not expected to completely offset the predicted growth in demand driven emissions. Although the contribution of aviation emissions to total global CO2 emissions is relatively small, this growth raises questions on the future contributions of aviation activity to climate change and on the most effective way of addressing those emissions in a future climate agreement. Read more
Addressing the impacts of international aviation greenhouse gas emissions on the global climate is a one of the objectives of ICAO. The policy of the Organization on the environment is Assembly Resolution A36-22 Consolidated statement of continuing ICAO policies and practices related to environmental protection, adopted at the 36th Session of the ICAO Assembly. This resolution provided for the development of an aggressive Programme of Action on International Aviation and Climate Change and a common strategy to limit or reduce greenhouse gas emissions attributable to international civil aviation. The ICAO High-level Meeting on Aviation and Climate Change will consider this programme.
The ICAO Programme of Action was prepared by the Group on International Aviation and Climate Change (GIACC) and presented for the consideration by the ICAO Council at its thirteenth and fourteenth meeting of the 187th Session. Council’s decision.
ICAO, through its Committee on Aviation Environmental Protection (CAEP), has conducted work relating to aviation emissions for several decades. ICAO efforts on reducing GHG emissions include various measures such as promulgating Standards, publishing guidance documents, encouraging technology improvements, and pursuing market-based measures. CAEP brochure.
ICAO also cooperates with the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).
Global Solutions for a Global Activity
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Aviation transcends borders. It connects people and businesses across the world. Any locally imposed solution sends ripples over the entire globe. ICAO is the globally recognized and accepted forum for dealing with international aviation matters, including environmental-related issues. Any solution to aviation emissions will need to include technology, operational measures and market based measures as well as other out of the box solutions such as alternative fuels. |
Technology, Operations, Market Based Measures and Alternative Fuels
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Reducing emissions at source - Technology and Standards
Aircraft have become more efficient, quieter and cleaner since the advent of commercial aviation. ICAO’s Standards and recommended practices have been key to this success. We are committed to keeping the Standards up-to-date with ever-improving technologies.
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Operations
Reduction in emissions can be achieved by shortening flight times and hence fuel consumption through improvements to the air traffic management (ATM) system. Such improvements have the potential to provide more direct routings for aircraft, as well as reducing the time spent in holding patterns waiting to land or queuing while waiting to depart.
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Market Based Measures
Market-based measures are policy tools designed to achieve environmental goals at a lower cost and in a more flexible manner than traditional command and control regulatory measures.
Emissions Trading: ICAO has developed guidance material on the use of emission trading for aviation. This document (Doc. 9885) supports the incorporation of international aviation emissions into States’ emissions trading schemes, consistent with the UNFCCC process. It focuses on aviation-specific issues, identifies options and offers potential solutions.
Voluntary Activities: ICAO/CAEP developed a template to facilitate voluntary agreements and collects information for the purpose of information sharing among stakeholders.
Carbon offset: ICAO is developing a harmonized, per-passenger emissions methodology, and provides guidance on calculation methods and reference tools.
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Alternative fuels
Aviation can be the first mover for sustainable alternative fuels. Aviation is willing to make the investments to make sustainable alternative fuels happen. ICAO is leading the way.
In support of the requests from the ICAO Council and CAEP, ICAO organized the Workshop on Aviation and Alternative Fuels in February 2009 (WAAF2009). Building upon the results of the Workshop, ICAO will hold a Conference on Aviation and alternative fuels in November 2009 (CAAF2009). The objectives of the Conference are to stimulate a dynamic exchange of views and to establish a global roadmap to constitute an integral element of ICAO’s response to the climate change challenge.
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Summary of Research and Perspectives presented at the ICAO Workshop on Aviation and Alternative Fuels, February 2009. |
ICAO’S Support to the UN Carbon Neutral Initiative
The United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has launched an initiative for making the UN practices more climate neutral and environmentally sustainable. As the Specialized UN Agency for international aviation, ICAO supported this initiative by providing its Carbon Calculator to the UN family. The impartial and internationally approved methodology used by the Calculator - for which ICAO developed a special interface for the use of UN offices in support of Climate Neutral UN - is fully documented and relies exclusively on publicly available data and verifiable sources.
Internally, actions are in place to have ICAO greener - ICAO has implemented a series of environmentally-friendly measures and practices such as paper-free meetings, the extensive use of conference calls, WEBEX conferences and many others aimed at reducing our consumption of energy while increasing our effectiveness. ICAO’s headquarters building in Montreal was the first LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Gold certified building in Canada.
ICAO has completed its first GHG emissions inventory for the baseline year 2008. The calculation was accomplished by using UNEP’s UN GHG Calculator, and the ICAO Carbon Emissions Calculator.
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