Global CO2 Standard Marks Vital Step in Important Year for ICAO

Yesterday marked a significant and historic first step in what looks set to be an important year for the global civil aviation community – with an agreement reached to adopt the world’s first CO₂ emissions standard for both new and current in-production aircraft.

Over 170 members of the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) environmental committee have been gathering in Montreal since the 1^st February this year, and last night reached an agreement which means aircraft manufacturers will be required to comply with a variety of CO₂ emissions stringency criteria levels, before an aircraft can be certified and finally delivered to airlines and operators in the future.

The standard itself sets varying degrees of stringency criteria and timescales for compliance, focusing first on new aircraft and then current in-production aircraft.

Emissions standards set are based on criteria such as an aircraft’s fuel consumption, cabin space and maximum take-off weight (MTOW) – with new aircraft designs complying with the standard from 2020 onwards, and current in-production aircraft by 2023. The standard also recommends a cut-off date of 2028 for the production of aircraft that do not comply.

The agreement has been welcomed by both industry and governments alike – with the Obama administration highlighting that when fully implemented, the standards are expected to reduce carbon emissions by more than 650 million tons between 2020 and 2040 – equivalent to removing over 140 million cars from the road for a year. ICAO has also estimated that the standards could help save up to $8.5bn per year in fuel costs over the same 20 year time period.

The CO₂ standard is an important first step for ICAO’s work on reducing carbon emissions from civil aviation – with focus and attention now set to turn to the development of a new global market based mechanism (MBM) for airlines and operators. With discussions and negotiations set to continue throughout the year, the scope of the measure is likely to be either an ‘allowance’ or ‘credit’ based carbon offsetting scheme – with units supplier via a trading scheme or directly to companies via a separate crediting programme.

For industry, both the CO₂ standard and a Global MBM are critical to the ‘basket of measures’ that are required to improve civil aviation’s environmental footprint – including technology & sustainable alternative fuels, operational improvements and infrastructure developments.

All eyes will now be on the ICAO General Assembly set for October 2016, with both the CO₂ standard set to be formally approved and made legally binding by the ICAO Council, and the structure and principles of the Global Market Based measure signed off by ICAO member states across the world. Both measures could help to highlight 2016 as the Aviation community’s year of action on emissions.