IATA position and engagement

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) was formed in 1945 in Cuba. IATA is a trade association which can be seen as the voice of the international airlines business.The organization represents around 250 airlines operating about 84% of the air transport capacity available in the world.

IATA has been active from the very beginning in supporting ICAO in its environment-related activities. IATA has also closely followed the scientific analysis addressing climate change and the influence of aviation on climate. The Association was able to develop a response by developing a strategy to counteract the negative impact of aviation on the climate. Maintaining the socio-economic benefits of the aviation sector, the strategy is supported by the overwhelming majority of member airlines.

It is worthwhile to note that IATA was able to develop a concept which finds support from nearly all airlines, despite competition, despite different economic, social and political situations in different regions of the world and despite the variety of business models.

IATA focused on two areas:

• • Increase and improve the dialogue with stakeholders and create a better understanding of the sector and the boundary conditions under which the sector operates.
• • Develop a concept to counteract and reduce the impact of aviation on climate change, and to demonstrate responsibility and preserve the business. In other words, IATA’s focus is to buy the license to survive and to grow.

The conclusions of the internal process in IATA can be described with three key elements.

• • Global Sectoral Approach.
• • Carbon Neutral Growth 2020.
• • Four Pillar Strategy.

The Global Sectoral Approach describes the preferred scope of application of a climate mitigation measure. Carbon Neutral Growth 2020 defines the targets, while the Four Pillar Strategy represents the toolbox to be used to achieve the goals.

The Global Sectoral Approach covers and addresses three key elements. It reflects the difficulty that arises attempting to attribute emissions of international aviation to states as discussed during the Kyoto process. It takes into account the competitive and distortive impact which isolated single state measures might have, as the impact on operators can vary significantly and might lead to carbon leakage. (This is the case, for example, in the current design of the European Emissions Trading System.) It strives to find a system that is both as administratively simple as possible and as credible as possible. The best-case solution to address these aspects is to design a harmonized global system for the sector.

It should be noted that all concepts developed are focused on international aviation and ICAO. But airlines have an interest in designing the system in a way that covers domestic aviation too. Should states decide to implement a system that controls domestic aviation emissions, the use of an existing and accepted methodology might be an approach to avoid or reduce the complexity and the administrative burden for operators.

The Carbon Neutral Growth Concept 2020 (CNG 2020) is the condensation of various impact factors and the compromise goal which is overwhelmingly accepted by the industry. It is a three-step approach with different ambitious levels in the goals defined over time.

• • An average improvement in fuel efficiency of 1.5% per year from 2009 to 2020.
• • A cap on net aviation CO, emissions from 2020 (carbon-neutral growth).
• • A reduction in net aviation CO, emissions of 50% by 2050, relative to 2005 levels.

The CNG concept is sometimes criticized as not being challenging enough. The counter-argument from the author’s point of view is that this is a compromise which tries to best manage a large variety of positions held by airlines from different regions. It also tries to accommodate what could be seen as a technically feasible or realistic position in terms of application and implementation. Last but not least, it has been the accepted way forward by the overwhelming majority of airlines in IATA and has found its way into the ICAO processes (ATAG, 2015).

The first step prior to 2020 is an efficiency commitment that reflects the fact that airlines need time to adjust their strategy and their operations to a new boundary condition. The first step also reflects the situation that systems and the methods for CNG need to be developed and implemented, and it reflects the significant changes in the airline market, especially in developing regions. The second key step is to implement an upper limit based initially on the 2020 emissions and then for the long run on the 2050 perspective, to find a way to reduce emissions.

The third element is the Four Pillar Strategy, which is nothing but the toolbox of instruments and measures necessary to achieve carbon-neutral growth from 2020.The four pillars are:

• • Improved technology, including the deployment of sustainable low-carbon fuels.
• • More efficient aircraft operations.
• • Infrastructure improvements, including modernized air traffic management systems.
• • A single global market-based measure, to fill the remaining emissions gap.

The first of these four Pillars offers large potential and is critical in terms of achieving the desired objectives in emission reduction (see IATA, 2013, p. 34). Achievement depends heavily on the development and implementation of new technologies by manufacturers. These technologies (through better fuel efficiency and thus lower carbon emissions) will mostly become effective through airline fleet modernization and, to a minor degree, through retrofits to inservice aircraft. The CO, standard developed by ICAO is one instrument to stimulate new technologies.

The second Pillar covers elements like flexible routing, flying the shortest wind-adjusted routes, the use of most modern air traffic management technology to reduce separation and increase capacity, the use of collaborative decisionmaking, streamlining daily operations, “light-weighting” cabin equipment, maximizing load factors, utilising new landing and take-off procedures, and fitting fuel efficiency devices.

The third Pillar represents measures like investments in new air traffic management technology and airport capacity, as well as a better and more flexible use of airspace which will result in fewer delays and more direct and efficient routes. With the necessary financial and political commitments from governments, these efforts will also bring significant emissions reductions.

The fourth Pillar is an element which creates emissions reduction outside the aviation industry and therefore is of different quality in comparison to Pillars 1—3. The sector is committed to a global market-based measure, to be developed through ICAO and to be operational from 2020 onwards. In the industry’s view, a single global carbon offsetting scheme offers the swiftest and most effective approach.

The reason for adding this fourth element to the strategy is mainly to avoid running into a type of dead-end situation in case the sectoral internal measures do not deliver enough reduction to reach a given goal. If there is no alternative, the blunt potential consequence could be operational restrictions, which is in nobody’s interest because this would restrict business.The key approach is to decouple the growth of transport from the growth of emissions. A second aspect which might create interest in the global market is the fact that operators can potentially have a certain flexibility to balance between an engagement in Pillars 1—3 or alternatively/additionally in Pillar 4, depending on a cost analysis. In other words, the operator has a choice to select the most cost-efficient approach from his point of view. A comprehensive overview over the CNG 2020 concept including the elements of the Four Pillars Strategy can be found in IATA (2013, p. 8).

These concepts were agreed upon at the 65th IATA Annual General Meeting in 2009 in Kuala Lumpur, at which IATA announced that the airline industry is committed to achieving carbon-neutral growth by 2020.These concepts were and are the basis for the industry’s participation and engagement and found their way into ICAO negotiations (IATA, 2019).The industry has demonstrated the capability to act and to compromise. This does not mean that everything is on track, that there is no discussion.There is still a long way to go, and a lot of issues remain to be solved before a system to control international aviation emissions is agreed and active and in force.

Current status and the way forward

While the work in Pillars 1—3, in which past experience is available, is quite well established and shows progress, the new area of market-based measures needed special attention. Based on the resolution of the 38th Assembly, the

ICAO Council has organized ICAO’s work and had to focus intensively on developing a global market-based measures system.

The Council established the Environment Advisory Group (EAG), composed of 17 Council members plus an industry (IATA) and NGO representative. The major role of EAG was, to give political guidance and to oversee the technical work, provided by the Global Market Based Measures Task Force (GMTF) of CAEP.

The result of this process was the development Standards and Recommended Practices (SARPs) for CORSIA.The first edition was adopted by the Council of ICAO on 27 June 2018 and became effective on 22 October 2018. It is now up to the states to translate this guidance material into national legislation (ICAO, 2018b). States and airlines need to build up the management system for COR-SIA to make sure that the system is ready for operation in time (IATA, 2018).

The likelihood of international action

The implementation of a market-based measures system creates a certain complexity and administrative burden for the operators. The chosen option for aviation — an offsetting system — is the simplest and most flexible system under discussion. For international aviation, a global system would be the most effective and efficient system to control and reduce emissions, far better than any regional or local system. It would make it much easier to minimize any competitive impact on operators than a regional or local approach.The ICAO work has taken this into account and designed a balanced system, which needs to be made operational and successful now. It is the first and the only mandatory system for a global industry sector to address emissions reduction.

In concluding and looking to the future, there is a technical aspect to be mentioned, which is the link between the Paris Agreement and CORSIA.The Paris Agreement has changed the UNFCCC world.The instruments developed under the Kyoto regime need to be adjusted to the new Paris world.This is of special interest for the aviation sector as project-based instruments are needed to produce the emissions compensation necessary for CORSIA.

But of higher importance is the political dimension behind CORSIA. Counteracting climate change will be an ongoing challenge of increasing intensity. It is encouraging to see that international organisations like ICAO and its member states in cooperation with NGOs and the airline sector demonstrate their capability work together, to act and move forward.

References

ATAG - Air Transport Action Group. (2015). A letter from the commercial aviation industry on climate change.

IATA - International Air Transport Association. (2013). Technology roadmap. 4th ed. Geneva: IATA. IATA - International Air Transport Association. (2018). An airline handbook on CORSIA. 3rd ed. Geneva: IATA.

IATA - International Air Transport Association. (2019). Fact sheet CORSIA.

ICAO - International Civil Aviation Organization. (2016). On board. A sustainable future, environmental report. Montreal.

ICAO - International Civil Aviation Organization. (2018a). Annex 16 to the convention on international civil aviation. Montreal.

ICAO - International Civil Aviation Organization. (2018b). The Environmental Technical Manual (Doc 9501), Volume IV - procedures for demonstrating compliance with the Carbon Offsetting and Reduction Scheme for International Aviation (CORSIA). Montreal.

UN - United Nations. (1998). Kyoto protocol to the United Nations framework convention on climate change.

World Bank. (2018). State and trends of carbon pricing. Washington, DC: World Bank.