MONTREAL – In addressing the 11th Meeting of ICAO’s Committee on Aviation Environmental Protection (CAEP/11) currently underway in Montreal, ICAO Council President Dr. Olumuyiwa Benard Aliu underscored how “the global importance of environmental protection has grown immensely over recent decades, and with it the significance and relevance of the work of ICAO in minimizing the effects of global civil aviation on the environment.”
Dr. Aliu reminded the assembled experts that ICAO Member States have been pursuing a long-term environmental strategy aimed at limiting or reducing the number of global citizens affected by significant aircraft noise, the impact of aviation emissions on local air quality, and the effects of aviation greenhouse gas emissions on the global climate.
He stressed to them that the ICAO Basket of Measures for Environmental Protection includes activities and solutions focused on new airframe and engine technologies, more streamlined operations, sustainable aviation fuels, and global Carbon Offsetting and Reduction Scheme for International Aviation, or CORSIA, and while appreciating the significant progress made in all of these areas, congratulated the CAEP for its recent work leading to the ICAO Council’s June 2018 adoption of the new Volume IV of Annex 16 to the Chicago Convention on CORSIA.
The Council President stressed that the ICAO Council was looking forward “to the outcome of your discussions here on the CORSIA emission units and its Technical Advisory Body (TAB), as well as on important issues concerning the sustainability criteria for CORSIA eligible fuels, and lastly its sustainability certification schemes.”
On the issue of standards permitting the re-entry into service of new model supersonic aircraft, Dr. Aliu expressed the Council’s hope that “CAEP/11 will maintain the momentum in this area, advancing efforts to address several gaps in the related ICAO emissions and noise standards, while setting a firm basis for further progress during the CAEP/12 cycle.”
He also took time to highlight that the CAEP “will not only need to look at supersonics, but also other emerging technologies and innovations that are arising in response to environmental challenges, such as hybrid and electric aircraft. Understanding their environmental impacts and benefits, and defining the groundwork for their certification, will be an important challenge for CAEP in its next cycle.”
Among other important topics being considered during the two-week meeting includes options for new non-volatile particulate matter (nvPM) emissions standards. Dr. Aliu appreciated how CAEP/10 had analyzed how cost-effective the new nvPM guidance would be across a wide range of applicability and stringency options, recognizing that “this technical effort has required the CAEP to overcome important modelling and measurement challenges.”
President Aliu lastly noted that the ICAO Council was looking forward to the “new trends assessment update on greenhouse gas emissions, noise, and local air quality,” being produced by CAEP/11, appreciating that they represented a “vital pillar” in related discussions to take place at ICAO’s upcoming 40th Assembly this September.
The Council President also took time “to congratulate the CAEP on the golden anniversary of the adoption of the first volume of Annex 16, Volume I. Significant progress has been made over the past 50 years, with aircraft today being 75 per cent quieter than in the 1960s, however aircraft noise still remains an important subject for ICAO,” he said.
CAEP/11 is taking place at ICAO headquarters from 4 to 15 February 2019.
Tags:ICAO
