UN ready to adopt global aircraft emissions standard, says industry body

Once adopted by the UN's International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO), the new standard would apply to new designs from 2020 and existing aircraft from 2028. The proposal has now been recommended by the 170 international experts that make up the ICAO's Committee on Aviation Environmental Protection (CAEP), and will be presented to the ICAO's governing council for endorsement later this year.

"The goal of this process is ultimately to ensure that when the next generation of aircraft types enter service, there will be guaranteed reductions in international CO2 emissions," said ICAO council president Olumuyiwa Benard Aliu. "Our sector presently accounts for under two percent of the world's annual CO2 emissions, but we also recognise that the projected doubling of global passengers and flights by 2030 must be managed responsibly and sustainably."

The proposed new standard has been the subject of six years of international negotiations and could, once adopted, help save up to 650 million tonnes of CO2 by 2040. It is expected to come into force in early 2017, subject to formal agreement.

The ICAO is the specialist UN agency responsible for coordinating international aviation policy. Its 36-state general council is elected based on the size of states and their relative importance to global air transport, and adopts standards and recommended practices to do with air navigation, safety, flight inspection and border-crossing procedures.

The new standard would apply to aircraft of all sizes and types used in international aviation, but its stringency would vary depending on the weight of the aircraft. This is because the largest aircraft, weighing over 60 tonnes, account for more than 90% of international aviation emissions but also have access to the widest range of emissions reduction technologies, according to the ICAO's announcement.

The committee has recommended a 2028 final cut-off date for the production of aircraft that do not comply with the standard. It would be introduced for new designs from 2020, and to new deliveries of designs already in production from 2023, according to the announcement.

Violeta Bulc, the EU's transport commissioner, described the committee's agreement as "an important step to curb aviation emissions".

"An ambitious climate policy is an integral part of the Commission's plan to create an Energy Union, and a priority of the new Aviation Strategy," she said.

"I hope this will create further momentum for the creation of a global market-based measure to offset CO2 emissions from international aviation, which we hope to achieve this autumn at the ICAO General Assembly," she said.