The ICAO Assembly Resolution A42-20 requests the Council, with the assistance and cooperation of other bodies of the Organization and of other international organizations, to continue with vigour the work related to the development of Standards, Recommended Practices and Procedures and/or guidance material dealing with the impact of aviation on the environment.

Annex 16 Volumes I, II and III contain the environmental certification standards that shall be observed by aircraft and engine designs. The development and update of the environmental certification Standards ensure that the benefits offered by technology are reflected in real reductions of aviation environmental impacts, while balancing environmental benefit with technological feasibility, economic reasonableness, and the interdependency between environmental factors.

The most recent Recommendations made by ICAO’s 13th Committee on Aviation Environmental Protection of more stringent noise and CO2 standards represent the first time both Standards have been made more stringent simultaneously for aviation. Currently these Standards are under the States consultation process. More details on these new Standards are provided in Chapter 3 of the 2025 ICAO Environmental Report.

To foster the development of new technologies, ICAO regularly sets technology goals, with the purpose of providing targets for industry research and development, in cooperation with States. Once the State of the Art of technology reaches these goals, consideration is given to updating the ICAO Environmental Standards to ensure the latest technologies are incorporated into aircraft and engine designs. This principle of ICAO Standard-Setting process is illustrated in Figure 1.

Figure 1. ICAO Standard Setting Principle  
 

The latest set of ICAO technology goals was developed by a panel of independent experts, which ensure transparency and involvement from all stakeholders. The results are detailed in the ICAO Doc 10127 - Independent Expert Integrated Technology Goals Assessment and Review for Engines and Aircraft. This was the first time that ICAO developed technology goals for noise, local air quality and CO2 emissions in an integrated manner, with full consideration of the interdependencies between the technologies.

More details on this Independent Expert Review process and on the technology goals are provided in the ICAO Environmental Report 2019 (Chapter 1 – Aviation and the Environment: Outlook).