By Tony Tyler

In the last week of September, the aviation community gathered in Geneva to discuss air transport’s environmental impact. The industry is acutely aware of its responsibility to manage and reduce it. It’s a big challenge because the demand for people wanting to fly is growing by up to 7% a year. Despite this, we can be proud of aviation’s progress.
We have set tough targets and committed to a strategy to meet them. In 2009 the entire industry — not just airlines, but airports, manufacturers and air traffic control organisations as well — committed to meet three carbon-emissions goals:
1. To increase fuel efficiency 1.5% per annum to 2020
2. To cap emissions through carbon-neutral growth from 2020
3. To cut carbon emissions 50% by 2050 compared to 2005
These targets will be met through a four-pillar strategy comprising improvements in technology, operations and infrastructure, and by the implementation of a global market-based measure (MBM). We have a good track record to back our vision. Since we made our carbon commitments, more than 600mn tonnes of emissions have been avoided as a direct result of efforts associated with our four-pillar strategy.
By consolidating behind a united position, aviation has maintained the high ground with the moral authority to call for governments to act on issues such as long-overdue air traffic management reform, and putting in place policies to accelerate the production of sustainable fuels. Most importantly, we have called for governments to commit to implementing a workable MBM.
The airline industry believes that the most appropriate MBM would be a global offsetting scheme. Offsetting is important because it is a legitimate means for the industry to achieve carbon-neutral growth. The planet does not care where emissions reductions come from — they just need to happen. So it makes sense for aviation, while it continues to take every step it can for itself, to encourage reductions in other business sectors where the scope for emissions cuts is greater. This is the swiftest and most efficient means of cutting carbon.
But the decision on an MBM does not rest with industry, it rests with the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO). In just 12 months, ICAO will make its decision on that MBM. In the hands of 190 states will be the power to make aviation’s carbon-neutral growth goal a reality. It is no exaggeration to say that the eyes of the world will be on them.
The stakes are high. If an agreement on an MBM is reached, then aviation will have taken its claim to be at the forefront of the practical fight against man-made climate change one giant step further. It’s the right thing to do and will grant us a licence to continue the important work of connecting our planet.
In just one century, the connectivity that only commercial aviation can deliver has changed our world for the better. And we are determined to grow in that vital role while reducing our environmental impact. I would take that one step further to say that aviation’s growth is essential to a more sustainable future for our planet — economically and environmentally.
Let me put it another way: aviation creates the connectivity that helps make our world a more prosperous place: a source of 58mn jobs and $2.4tn in economic activity. That prosperity drives the innovation that is needed for societies to move forward sustainably. Wherever you look, you see examples of how wealthier societies are able to prioritise the environment. Rising living standards lead to greater technological advances, far more efficient use of resources, and political pressure for environmental safeguards.
So ultimately, in addition to its own efficiency efforts, aviation’s greatest environmental service is to do what it keeps on doing — driving social and economic growth in every corner of our planet. To be a facilitator of trade and the exchange of knowledge. To be a force for good, spreading peace and prosperity around the globe.  
In short: to save the earth, take to the air.

♦ Tony Tyler is IATA’s director-general and CEO. The views expressed are his own.

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