NGOs Set out Their Vision of How a Global Carbon Scheme for Aviation Can Align with Paris Ambitions

(GreenAir Online) The International Coalition on Sustainable Aviation (ICSA), an umbrella group of six NGOs, has launched a campaign called FlightPath 1.5 to ensure emissions from international aviation are capped and then reduced in line with the climate ambitions of the Paris Agreement. Despite being left out of the Agreement, ICSA says the aviation sector must play a full part in the Paris pledge to pursue efforts in keeping global warming to no more than 1.5 degrees C above pre-industrial levels. It calls on ICAO to agree at its triennial Assembly this autumn a global market-based measure (GMBM) to cap international aviation emissions at 2020 levels as an initial step, followed by regular reviews to ensure emissions are reduced over the long term. ICSA is also looking for stringency levels of the CO2 standard recently agreed by ICAO’s environmental technical committee CAEP to be similarly tightened over time.

The NGOs making up ICSA – Transport & Environment (T&E), Aviation Environment Federation (AEF), Carbon Market Watch, Environmental Defense Fund (EDF), World Wildlife Fund (WWF) and the International Council on Clean Transportation (ICCT) – have launched a website,FlightPath1point5.org, as government officials meet around the world to consider a draft ICAO Assembly resolution on a proposed GMBM scheme (see article). They note that there is just 200 days left until the Assembly and “the time window for action is tight”.

The NGO coalition is in favour of the use of biofuels as a means of crediting against emissions beyond set thresholds, measured on a net lifecycle emissions basis, but only if the fuels meet environmental, social and economic sustainability criteria, and include low indirect land use change.

ICSA calls for capacity building for developing countries to implement and enforce the global scheme. It also supports “ambitious policies” to cut emissions from additional operational measures and the rapid deployment of low-emitting technologies. However, AEF Director Tim Johnson said curbing emissions will require more than currently available technology. “We can’t assume that biofuels and other radical technological breakthroughs will automatically materialise and put aviation on a flightpath in line with 1.5 degrees C,” he warned. “A well-designed MBM is the safety net the aviation industry needs.” READ MORE / MORE