Environment-related Standards and Guidance material on noise, local air quality and climate change
The Eleventh meeting of the ICAO Committee on Aviation Environmental Protection (CAEP/11) was held in February 2019, in Montréal, Canada. Two hundred and fifty CAEP experts from 31 Member States and 10 international organizations attended the CAEP/11 meeting, and agreed on 29 technical recommendations to address aircraft noise, as well as emissions affecting local air quality and global climate.
These recommendations included proposals for amendments to Annex 16 —
Environmental Protection, Volume I —
Aircraft Noise, Volume II —
Aircraft Engine Emissions and Volume III —
Aeroplane CO2 Emissions, including the recommendation on a new Standard for non‐volatile Particulate Matter (nvPM) mass and number engine emissions to be incorporated in Annex 16, Volume II. In addition, the meeting agreed to recommend amendments to all four Volumes of the
Environmental Technical Manual (Doc 9501), to facilitate the implementation of the SARPs contained in Annex 16.
The meeting also made a number of recommendations associated with airports and operations, including an Eco‐Airport Toolkit e‐collection, the first global Horizontal Flight Efficiency (HFE) analysis, reports on the state of aircraft end‐of‐life and recycling; and on performance‐based navigation and community engagement.
Great strides were made in the area of environmental protection and operations, with the recommendation to use the results of the combined Aviation System Block Upgrade (ASBU) B0/B1 environmental analysis to facilitate decision‐making on the implementation of ASBU Block 0 and Block 1. A Climate Adaptation Synthesis was also recommended for approval in order to enhance the preparedness of the international aviation sector to face the impacts of climate change on the sector.
The CAEP/11 recommended the first integrated independent expert technology goals assessment, including new aircraft noise, nitrogen oxides (NOx) emissions and fuel efficiency technology goals for the aviation sector. The meeting also recommended updating ICAO global environmental trends on aircraft noise, emissions affecting local air quality, and emissions affecting the global climate, as the basis for further decision‐making on environment by ICAO.
CAEP continued the work on supersonic transport (SST) and agreed to develop an exploratory study for SST aeroplanes during the CAEP/12 cycle, with the aim of providing a better understanding of airport noise impacts. Regarding sonic boom, CAEP recommended continuing the development of a sonic boom standard, while monitoring trends in supersonic engine technology and assessing consequences for emissions certification standards.
CAEP recommended the publication of an “Aviation Noise Impacts White Paper” to provide the latest consensus scientific information on aviation noise impacts. The meeting also discussed the progress and next steps on the task to explore the feasibility of a potential long‐term global aspirational goal for international aviation.
Regarding the Carbon Offsetting and Reduction Scheme for International Aviation (CORSIA), the CAEP/11 meeting made recommendations on various CORSIA Implementation Elements, including the means to calculate and claim the benefits accrued from the use of sustainable aviation fuels within the context of CORSIA. The recommendations included the default values and the methodologies for calculating actual values needed to calculate the life‐cycle CO2 emissions reduction benefits of different feedstocks. CAEP also recommended the requirements for Sustainability Certification Schemes (SCSs) and a process to evaluate and recommend a list of eligible SCS, which will certify fuels against the CORSIA sustainability criteria. These CAEP recommendations related to CORSIA eligible fuels were approved by the Council. In addition, CAEP delivered a recommendation on the rules and procedures for the ICAO Council Technical Advisory Body (TAB), to evaluate the eligibility of emissions units for use in CORSIA, and the CAEP recommendation was considered by the Council for the establishment of the TAB.
The full Report of the CAEP/11 meeting was presented for consideration by the Council during its 217th Session in June 2019 and CAEP recommendations were accepted, except for those CAEP recommendations related to Annex 16 which will be further considered by the Council.
CAEP Steering Group meeting
The first Steering Group meeting of the Committee on Aviation Environmental Protection (CAEP) in the CAEP/12 cycle (CAEP-SG/2019) was held in Johannesburg, South Africa in December 2019.
The meeting reviewed the progress on the CAEP/12 work programme, and discussed the relevant outcomes from the 40th Session of the ICAO Assembly on environment, and the need for adjustments of the CAEP’s structure and work programme to accommodate the timely delivery of tasks requested by the Assembly, such as the work to explore the feasibility of a long-term global aspirational goal for international aviation.
