11 July 2012: The International Civil Aviation Organization’s (ICAO) Committee on Aviation Environmental Protection (CAEP) agreed on a new carbon dioxide metric system for characterizing aircraft emissions, at a meeting in St. Petersburg, Russian Federation. The new system will account for fuel burn performance, fuselage geometry and maximum takeoff weight at three different cruise conditions.

The agreement is part of CAEP’s efforts to develop an ICAO carbon dioxide aircraft standard. As a next step, according to CAEP, it will define certification procedures for the new system and its scope of applicability. CAEP also will analyze regulatory limits for aircraft carbon dioxide standards based on ICAO’s criteria of cost effectiveness, environmental benefit, technical feasibility and impacts of interdependencies.

Roberto Kobeh González, ICAO Council President, described the new system as a “major move forward,” stressing that it addresses emissions “from a wide variety of aircraft on a fair and transparent basis.” Jane Hupe, ICAO’s Environment Branch Chief, noted that the agreement had consensus support from ICAO members, major airlines, aircraft manufacturers, NGOs and others.

ICAO, a UN specialized agency, has 191 Member States. Intergovernmental organizations and NGOs, aircraft manufacturers, major airlines and other stakeholders participate as observers. [ICAO Press Release]