States affirm intent to work through ICAO in tackling climate change
ICAO Member States, representing 93% of commercial air traffic, approved (09-Oct-2009) a Declaration made at the ICAO High Level Meeting on International Aviation and Climate Change (HLM-ENV) affirming their commitment to address aviation emissions that contribute to climate change by working through ICAO. The Declaration will form the basis for input by ICAO to discussions on international aviation at the upcoming 15th meeting of the Conference of the Parties of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in Copenhagen in Dec-2009.
In a joint working paper between IATA, Airports Council International, Civil Air Navigation Services Organisation and International Coordinating Council of Aerospace Industries Associations, three sequential targets were committed to under the ICAO HLM-ENV Declaration:
- Improving fuel efficiency by an average of 1.5% annually to 2020;
- Stabilising emissions from 2020 with carbon-neutral growth;
- A 50% net reduction in carbon emissions by 2050 compared to 2005.
The Declaration also contained the following commitments for:
- States to work together to achieve a global annual average fuel efficiency improvement of 2% to 2020, followed by an aspirational goal of a further average annual 2% improvement from 2021 to 2050;
- ICAO and its contracting States to evaluate the possibility of more ambitious goals by the next ICAO Assembly (2010), taking into consideration industry's collective commitments and the special needs of developing nations;
- ICAO to establish the process to develop a framework for economic measures;
- ICAO and its contracting States to encourage the development and use of sustainable biofuels. [more - ICAO] [more - IATA]