ICAO Agrees New Aircraft CO2 Emissions Standard

Montreal – The council of the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) has adopted a new aircraft CO2 emissions standard, which will reduce the impact of aviation greenhouse gas emissions on the global climate.

Contained in a new Volume III to Annex 16 of the Chicago Convention, the aircraft CO2 emissions measure represents the world’s first global design certification standard governing CO2 emissions for any industry sector.

The standard will apply to new aircraft type designs from 2020, and to aircraft type designs already in-production as of 2023. Those in-production aircraft which by 2028 do not meet the standard will no longer be able to be produced unless their designs are sufficiently modified.

ICAO Council president Olumuyiwa Benard Aliu said that “international civil aviation has once again taken pioneering action to address the impact of aviation CO2 emissions on the global climate, making air transport the first industry sector globally to adopt a CO2 emissions design certification standard.

He added that “alongside our 39th Assembly’s landmark agreement last October on the new Carbon Offsetting and Reduction Scheme for International Aviation (CORSIA), this latest development confirms our sector’s leadership and concrete actions toward ensuring a sustainable end environmentally responsible future for global civil aviation.”

For his part, ICAO secretary general Fang Liu said that “this historic accomplishment places aviation in an even better position as we look forward to a greener era of air transport development.”

Montreal-based ICAO is a specialized agency of the United Nations which promotes the safe and orderly development of international civil aviation around the world.