The Association of Asia Pacific Airlines (AAPA) has welcomed the first-ever global deal on curbing the airline industry’s rising carbon emissions.
The International Civil Aviation Organisation said full agreement, reached in Montreal last week, is not scheduled to take effect until 2020 “but the most contentious issues have been resolved”.
Director General of AAPA, Andrew Herdman, said the landmark agreement reached by representatives of 191 governments meeting at ICAO “clearly demonstrates the benefits of international cooperation and a partnership effort involving industry pointing the way forward to a truly sustainable future for international aviation”.
Herdman was a member of the aviation cross-industry delegation at the ICAO Assembly.
He said the challenge ahead would be in ensuring that the collective industry commitment to carbon neutral growth from 2020 is implemented in a way “that is fair and equitable, avoiding competitive market distortion, whilst reconciling the differing interests and perspectives of developed and developing nations”.
“There were some tense moments and tough negotiations during the ICAO Assembly,” he said, “but the important point is that for the first time all the major players were fully engaged in trying to map out a constructive way forward based on reaching a genuine consensus amidst divergent views.”
