ICAO Environmental Protection Committee delivers progress on new aircraft CO2 and noise standards

The International Civil Aviation Organization’s (ICAO’s) Committee on Aviation Environmental Protection (CAEP) made important progress last week, delivering agreement on the certification procedures supporting a new CO2 standard for aircraft, as well as a new global noise standard that will result in quieter skies and airports.

The new CO2 certification procedures represent another step towards a practical and comprehensive CO2 standard for aircraft. The agreement on the new certification procedures follows on from a related CAEP decision last July when the group agreed on the aircraft CO2 standard’s first milestone – a metric system that can be used to characterize the CO2 emissions from aircraft of varying types and technologies.

“By achieving this new and unanimous agreement through the CAEP, ICAO is continuing to demonstrate its commitment to establishing effective consensus on CO2 progress for global aviation,” commented ICAO Council President, Roberto Kobeh González. “We are now looking to the CAEP’s wide cross-section of air transport experts to get to work on the last agreements needed to realize the aircraft CO2 standard, namely its stringency and scope of applicability.”

As well as its ongoing efforts towards improving aviation CO2 emissions, ICAO additionally reached consensus through the current CAEP meeting on a new noise standard. The agreed new noise standard will be 7EPNdB below ICAO’s current standard and will be applicable to new-design aircraft entering into service from 2017 and from 2020 for the lower weight aircraft. The EPNdB is a measure of human annoyance due to aircraft noise, taking into account the perceived noise level and duration.

“This new noise standard is an important step for aviation and will provide a much quieter environment for the many communities living in proximity to the world’s airports,” commented ICAO Secretary General, Raymond Benjamin. “ICAO is encouraged that, while it took air transport more than 20 years to agree to the last significant noise reduction standard, this one has been determined in less than half that time. This progress confirms our community’s continued determination to deliver on tangible and consensus-based environmental improvements.”

The CAEP’s agreement on the new noise standard follows a thorough review of the technological, environmental and economic factors involved and supports the ICAO policy on a Balanced Approach to airport noise management. The standard will be presented for further consideration by the ICAO Council after formal state consultation.