ICAO members agree to historic agreements on aviation and climate change

ICAO adopted (08-Oct-2010) a comprehensive resolution to reduce the impact of aviation emissions on climate change. The agreement provides a roadmap for action through 2050 for the 190 member states of the organisation. The organisation also achieved important advancements in aviation safety and aviation security. [more]

Climate Change:

• ICAO becomes the first UN agency to lead a sector in the establishment and adopting a globally harmonised agreement for addressing its CO2 emissions. The agreement includes a global goal of 2% annual fuel efficiency improvement up to the year 2050, a global framework for the development and deployment of sustainable alternative fuels for aviation, and a target of 2013 for a CO2 standard for aircraft engines. Some sates expressed their reservations and called on ICAO to continue its work on specific aspects of the agreement.

• New initiatives include:
  • Development of a framework for market-based measures (MBMs);
  • Feasibility study on the creation of a global MBM scheme and guiding principles for states to use when designing and implementing market-based measures for international aviation;
• Other features:
  • Mechanisms for technology transfer to developing states;
  • Requirement for states to submit to ICAO their action plans for reaching goals set by the organisation;
  • Assistance for states to meet their respective objectives;
  • Exemptions from market-based measures for states with very low emissions due to their small traffic base.

Safety:

• ICAO signed a MoU with the US Department of Transportation, the Eureopean Union and IATA for the creation of a Global Safety Information Exchange. ICAO will coordinate the collection, analysis and exchange of aviation safety information among exchange members and disseminate to the global aviation community;
• ICAO Assembly endorsed a plan to establish a multi-disciplinary approach to address the critical issue of runway safety, culminating in a May-2012 Global Runway Safety Symposium;
• Assembly endorsed a proactive safety strategy based on the sharing of critical safety information among governments and industry stakeholders, providing for greater availability of information, improving the ability to better analyse and predict safety risks and to take action before issues result in accidents;
• The Assembly also endorsed ICAO's Global Air Navigation Plan, intended to guide the estimated USD50 billion dollar investment that states will make in their aviation infrastructure over the next 10 years. ICAO will act as global integrater, facilitating harmonisation of a variety of large-scale regional programmes. Initial plans will be introduced to States at a Global Air Navigation Forum in September of 2011 and finalised in November of 2012 during the 12th Air Navigation Conference.

Security

• ICAO Assembly issued a unanimously declaration reaffirming the international commitment was to enhance aviation security collaboratively and proactively through screening technologies to detect prohibited articles, strengthening international standards, improving security information-sharing and providing capacity-building assistance to states in need. The Assembly announced its support for a comprehensive, new ICAO aviation security strategy. This follows the adoption of two new law instruments for the suppression of unlawful acts relating to civil aviation, to further criminalise the use of civil aircraft as a weapon and of dangerous materials to attack aircraft or other targets on the ground.

Regional assistance and cooperation

• ICAO concluded a memoranda of cooperation with the African Union and the European Union and four regional civil aviation bodies - the Arab Civil Aviation Commission, the African Civil Aviation Commission, the European Civil Aviation Conference and the Latin American Civil Aviation Commission. The objective is to help reduce aircraft accident rates, improve security in flight and at airports, and promote the overall sustainable development of the air transport industry.