THE International Air Transport Association (IATA) reiterated aviation’s commitment to responsibly addressing the challenges of climate change and called on governments to deliver a global and sectoral approach to reducing aviation emissions in Kyoto 2.
“Air transport is a global industry with a good track record and ambitious targets for environmental performance. But to achieve them, we need governments to take a global approach,” said Giovanni Bisignani, IATA’s director general and CEO in a statement to the World Business Summit on Climate Change in Copenhagen.
Bisignani called on governments to define a sectoral approach in Kyoto 2 with global accounting for aviation’s emissions through the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) and open access for airlines to properly regulated carbon markets. Such an approach would maintain a level playing field for all airlines and replace overlapping national and regional schemes.
A global approach is already underpinned with three ambitious industry targets: a 25 per cent improvement in fuel efficiency by 2020 compared to 2005; to use 10 per cent alternative fuels by 2017 and a 50 per cent absolute reduction in emissions by 2050. “We are already working to set an important fourth target: a date for carbon-neutral growth beyond which our emissions will not grow even as demand increases,” said Bisignani.
Bisignani gave a progress report on the aviation industry’s efforts to reduce emissions. “Aviation’s emissions will fall by 8 per cent this year. Some 6 per cent of this is from the recession and 2 per cent is directly related to IATA’s four pillar strategy,” said Bisignani.
Bisignani made special note of the industry progress on biofuels. “One of the most exciting recent developments is the progress being made in sustainable next generation biofuels. These have the potential to reduce our carbon footprint by up to 80 per cent. Three years ago nobody thought biofuels could be applied to aviation. Four successful test flights in the last year prove that biofuels work.