Climate Change Measures Progress at ICAO Assembly

October 07, 2019

Print This Article Share it With Friends

(Air Transport Action Group) Governments meeting at the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) 40th Assembly in Montreal have supported the prioritisation of work on developing a long-term goal for aviation CO2 emissions, with that work to be completed for presentation at the next ICAO Assembly in 2022. They also re-affirmed support for the development of the CORSIA climate change measure for international aviation.

Executive Director of the cross-industry Air Transport Action Group, Michael Gill said: “The aviation industry has had a long-term goal for reducing emissions from air transport for a decade. We are encouraged that there was clear support from governments meeting at ICAO to develop a UN-backed goal and the industry stands ready to help technical and strategic discussions over the coming three years as the details of a goal are developed.

“As air transport connectivity grows, particularly to meet the needs of developing and emerging economies, we also need to work to reduce our climate change impact. The aviation industry has been very successful in significantly improving fuel efficiency of our operations in the past – with an overall efficiency improvement of 17.3% since 2009 – and we expect that to continue. But we also recognise the need to do more and for us to start bringing down net CO2 emissions from the sector in the coming decades. The work on a long-term goal, backed up by individual government policy measures to help with the energy transition away from fossil fuels, will provide a coordinated approach to achieve this.”

Despite robust discussions, the Assembly also confirmed significant support by governments for the development of CORSIA – the world’s first sector-wide carbon offsetting programme. CORSIA will offset the growth in CO2 from international flights from 2021.

“We recognise that working towards decarbonisation in aviation is a challenge, compared with other sectors that have more immediate options such as electrification. The energy transition to sustainable fuels and the introduction of new technology options will take time, so CORSIA has been developed as an interim measure to help balance the growth in connectivity with the need to reduce emissions. We are encouraged by the support of governments to continue their work on CORSIA and urge more States to volunteer for this important measure.” READ MORE

Last day drama at ICAO Assembly as old disputes between developed and developing countries over climate action re-emerge (GreenAir Online)

ICAO's CORSIA scheme still requires strong support from countries, Aliu tells Assembly (GreenAir Online)

Global aviation CO2 emissions are rising 70 per cent faster than ICAO projections, finds ICCT (GreenAir Online)

European Commission recommends EU States object to CORSIA exclusivity provision to protect EU ETS (GreenAir Online)

Industry and NGOs urge ICAO to adopt a long-term emissions reduction goal for international aviation by 2022 (GreenAir Online)

ICAO advisory body to evaluate 14 programmes for eligibility under CORSIA carbon offset scheme (GreenAir Online)

Global response of aviation industry to climate challenge far too timid and complacent, says EU transport chief (GreenAir Online)

Aviation climate targets may drive 3 million hectares of deforestation (Rainforest Foundation Norway)

ICAO Environmental Report 2019 --'Destination Green – The Next Chapter' (GreenAir Online)

Last day drama at ICAO Assembly as old disputes between developed and developing countries over climate action re-emerge (GreenAir Online)

European Commission recommends EU States object to CORSIA exclusivity provision to protect EU ETS (GreenAir Online)

Industry and NGOs urge ICAO to adopt a long-term emissions reduction goal for international aviation by 2022 (GreenAir Online)

Countering Misinformation on Sustainable Aviation Fuels (IATA)

Excerpt from GreenAir Online: Drama unfolded on the last day of ICAO’s 40th Assembly as China, India and Russia attempted to reopen negotiations on two climate related resolutions that were expected to be adopted in the final plenary session. Signs of discontent in closed sessions during the Assembly emerged when a joint statement (WP/605) was released by China, India and Russia detailing significant changes they wanted to the climate change resolution. China called for a secret ballot of States that resulted in the original climate and CORSIA resolutions (WP/58 and WP/59) being adopted by 92 votes to 25, with 10 abstentions. The three major emerging nations, with the support of others, notified ICAO of reservations to the resolutions and called for a high-level meeting in 2021 to continue discussions on the issue. IATA told the Assembly that intense outside pressure meant industry would have to work faster than ICAO to reduce the sector’s climate impact.

...

In the unadopted joint proposal by China, India and the Russian Federation for revisions to the draft climate change resolution, wording was struck out on a long-term aspirational goal for international aviation.

...

EU States came to the Assembly to defend their perceived right to continue applying the EU Emissions Trading System (EU ETS) to international flights within Europe, which paragraph 18 of the draft CORSIA resolution appears to negate by making CORSIA the exclusive global market-based measure for international aviation. Pre-Assembly discussions between the EU institutions had centred around entering a reservation on the paragraph if it was adopted. However, the original text remained yet a reservation was not mentioned by the Finnish representative.

Instead he said States retained their sovereign right to implement their legal obligations under the Paris Agreement in a manner consistent with civil aviation's Chicago Convention, as long as each State applied its laws and regulations on an equal basis to all aircraft operating in its jurisdiction. This would suggest the EU believes it is within its right to continue with the EU ETS once CORSIA starts in 2021, regardless of paragraph 18, as long as airlines were not subject to duplicative requirements.

IATA's representative told the Assembly that what had been witnessed over the past few days during meetings had been unprecedented. “As an observer, it could be construed that ICAO had taken a step backwards in a world where at the moment the pressures are intense on airlines to move forwards on resolving the climate change issue as quickly as possible,” he said. “We will continue to support ICAO but, sadly, I think we’re going to have to move faster than ICAO is going to be able to in order to take whatever steps we can in finding ways to continue to reduce our environmental footprint.”

Video recordings of the two Plenary sessions are here and here READ MORE

Excerpt from GreenAir Online: The 14 programme applicants are:

American Carbon Registry

British Columbia Offset Program

China GHG Voluntary Emission Reduction Program

Clean Development Mechanism

Climate Action Reserve

Forest Carbon Partnership Facility

Thailand Greenhouse Gas Management Organization

The State Forests of the Republic of Poland

VCS Program (managed by Verra) READ MORE

Excerpt from Rainforest Foundation Norway: The aviation industry’s climate targets are likely to lead to a dramatic increase in demand for palm oil and soy for aviation biofuels. A new report concludes that this may result in 3.2 million hectares of tropical forest loss – an area larger than Belgium.

...

A number of technologies are available to produce aviation biofuels, or even to produce aviation fuels from electricity, but the only one of these technologies currently operating at a commercial scale is the ‘HEFA’ (Hydroprocessed esters and fatty acids) process to produce jet fuel from vegetable oils and animal fats.

The cheapest and most readily available feedstocks for HEFA jet fuel are palm oil and soy oil, which are closely linked to tropical deforestation. Unless alternative aviation fuel policies actively support more sustainable options, it is likely that meeting the aviation industry’s aspirations to reduce emissions would lead to a sharp increase in demand for soy and palm oils. READ MORE