Green flights for blue skies

In February this year the International Civil Aviation Organisation’s (ICAO) Committee on Aviation Environmental Protection came up with new environmental measures for CO2 emission standards.

This paves the way for the standards being adopted by the UN agency’s 36-State Governing Council. The International Air Transport Association (IATA) had asked ICAO to develop CO2 standards for new aircraft in 2009.

BusinessLine spoke with Andreas Hardeman, Assistant Director, Environment Policy and Outreach, IATA, to understand what the guidelines mean for the aviation industry, including in India. Excerpts.

Globally aviation produces about 2 per cent of the total CO2 emissions, so are new standards required?

Although it is 2 per cent it is roughly the same amount of CO2 that a large industrialised country like Germany produces on an annual basis. The development of the CO2 standards in ICAO goes back to 2009. At that time, we in the industry were trying to resolve the question: how do you ensure that people and economies around the world have the opportunity to benefit from aviation in terms of social and economic benefits while at the same time protecting global climate. In 2009 at the IATA AGM in Kuala Lumpur IATA publically called on ICAO to develop CO2 standards for new aircraft.

How will it affect India which has new aircraft?

The standards really introduce obligations for aircraft manufacturers. They do not directly introduce obligations for operators. The latest standards do not affect the latest technology aircraft – the NEOs (Airbus aircraft), MAX (Boeing aircraft), Boeing 787, Airbus 350 etc. Those are very latest technologies and aeroplanes that already meet the standards.

But what the standards do is that they guarantee that new aeroplanes in future will also use latest state-of-the-art fuel efficiency technology; not just the large Airbus and Boeing’s but also smaller aeroplane types all the way down to small regional and business jets.

The other thing that the standards do is that they ensure that aeroplane designs will have to be upgraded in a given timeframe.

The standards put a limit on how long an aeroplane design can still be produced. By 2030 over 60 per cent of the world’s aircraft fleet will have been built in compliance with the new standards.

The statement calls for making older aircraft becoming compliant. What will be required and when you say older aircraft is there a cut-off date?

Anything that is not completely a new design is being referred to as older aircraft. That is existing designs that are already in production.

How will it be implemented?

The internationally agreed standards will have to be transposed into national legislation. It becomes part of the certification procedures for new aircraft. In the case of India the authorities will have to adopt the same standards with the national air worthiness certification procedures.

Does the agreement reached in Montreal in February stipulate or put any penalty on manufacturers not meeting these standards?

No. There are no penalties. The market will regulate the way the standards are being complied with because ultimately airlines will not want to buy aircraft that are not in compliance with the standards.

You mentioned the Airbus 350, NEO, MAX. All these incorporate new engine technologies and also use composite materials for construction of aircraft body. So will it be correct to say that if manufacturers use composites and more efficient engines, then they will get automatic certification?

I will not go so far as to call it automatic certification. The way that the certification process works is that it looks at each new aircraft design in its own way, regardless of whether carbon fibre is used or other types of technologies. What matters for the CO2 standards is whether for that particular aircraft designed for a particular payload and range meets the fuel efficiency limit. There is no automatic certification if particular materials or engine types are used. It is up to manufacturers to integrate technology and materials which are needed for that particular aircraft type to meet the standards.

Airlines are already reducing carbon emissions by following proper procedures for landing and take-off, flying at a particular height for the duration and other methods. So, how will these new standards help?

What we as an industry adopted as part of the climate action plan was the so-called four pillar strategy that describes four areas where carbon reduction can be achieved.

The first area is in new technologies including alternative fuels, there is area of infrastructure improvement. There is operational improvement and then the fourth is so-called market-based measures. All these elements and actions combined should lead us to, hopefully in the longer term, a zero carbon future for aviation. But let us first meet the 2050 target to half our CO2 emissions compared to 2005 levels, which is already very ambitious.

One piece of analysis, for example, shows that between 2020 and 2040 about 650 million tonnes of CO2 will be avoided due to these particular standards. That is roughly equal to removing 140 million cars off the road. In terms of costs as an industry, we are in the sort of fortunate position that CO2 saving directly equates with fuel saving, so therefore it also saves the industry in terms of fuel costs. And if fuel costs rise in the next couple of years, the savings will increase as well.

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