MONTRÉAL, 16 SEPTEMBER 2015 – The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) successfully kicked-off its first-ever Global Aviation Partnerships on Emissions Reductions or ‘E-GAP’ Seminar today, at its Headquarters in Montréal. Built around the theme of ‘Multiplying Environmental Action’, the event has drawn some 250 participants from a wide range of ICAO Member States, climate groups and international organizations.
Notable developments on day one of the two-day event included a donation of objects produced from recycled aircraft parts by a local consortium represented at ICAO by Bombardier, and discussions were undertaken with the Aircraft Fleet Recycling Association (AFRA) on progressing aircraft end-of-life best practices through ICAO’s Committee on Aviation Environmental Protection (CAEP). With hundreds of aircraft globally being withdrawn from active service each year, increased attention is now being paid to recycling concerns and how manufacturers can incorporate related considerations during the design stage for future aircraft.
''Cooperation, partnerships and innovation are key to aviation’s success in limiting its environmental impacts, and to the eventual realization of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nation’s Post-2015 Sustainable Development Agenda which will be adopted next week,” highlighted ICAO Secretary General Dr. Fang Liu. “ICAO’s Member States have already agreed to a global aspirational goal of improving fuel efficiency by two per cent per year, and to stabilize sector-wide CO2 emissions at 2020 levels, and new partners and ideas are very welcome where our efforts to achieve environmentally sustainable aviation are concerned.''
In addition to ICAO Secretary General Liu, additional keynote speakers included Dr. Braulio Ferreira de Souza Dias, Executive Secretary of the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), and Roberto Kobeh González, former ICAO Council President and Lifetime Goodwill Ambassador of ICAO.
The E-GAP Seminar is seeking to expand partnerships and cooperation across all areas of aviation and environmental activity in order to address current and foreseen action in the areas of aircraft technology and research programmes, the recycling of aircraft, next generation air navigation and greener aircraft operations, sustainable alternative fuels and renewable energy, financing for aviation environmental activities, and carbon markets.
Key outcomes from the event will also be presented to the UNFCCC COP21 in December of this year.
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