In the run-up to the International Air Transport Association’s (IATA’s) international Aviation Energy Forum a new analysis shows that the industry’s proposed scheme for climate action, Fly Net Zero, will put global biodiversity at risk and compete with food production without reducing aviation’s climate impact. 

Fly Net Zero will be a focal point at the forum. In the report Pie in the Sky, the New Weather Institute investigates what the plan actually entails and outlines it’s main failures, which include:

• IATA plans for a doubling of global air passengers by 2050, increasing the size of  the climate impact that needs to be abated.

• The plan attempts to “decarbonise” aviation but completely disregards the existence of aviation’s non-CO2 climate impact. Scientists agree that such effects amount to an impact of the same size as emissions of carbon dioxide. Ignoring them means that IATA is only addressing half of the problem.

• Over the next decade, during a period when it is crucial to reduce climate impact, emissions and non-CO2 effects will increase, only being “off-set” by mechanisms that are considered “arbitrary” and “do almost nothing to tackle the emissions from flying”.

• From 2035 to 2050 the plan envisages a switch to biofuels, requiring three times as much aviation biofuel as the present global production of all liquid biofuels. Such a development would endanger global biodiversity, put pressure on food production and increase risks of land grabbing.

  The New Weather Institute is calling for IATA and the International Civil Aviation Organisation, ICAO, to:

• Draft, pass and implement a resolution on industry-wide climate action that is truly in line with the Paris agreement, committing aviation to zero CO2 emissions by 2050, including non-CO2-effects.

• Call for an inquiry under the auspices of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) on the scale of the aviation industry which – allowing for other sectors and aviation’s non-CO2 effects – would be compatible with reaching the 1.5°C goal, with realistic short term action in the first decade to create a credible pathway beyond 2030.

• And, in the meantime governments should take action to limit the growth of aviation through domestic, bi- or unilateral actions, including an embargo on the further expansion of the industry.

Complaint

IATA is currently marketing the scheme as “Fly Net Zero” on its website, claiming that it is “Our Commitment to Fly Net Zero by 2050” and that the pledge sets global aviation “in line with the objectives of the Paris agreement to limit global warming to 1.5°C.”

The New Weather Institute considers these claims to be in breach of the Advertising and Marketing Communications Code of the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) and has filed a complaint with the (Swedish) regulator (Reklamombudsmannen)

Pressrelease

IATA _ International Air Traffic Association
ICAO – International Civil Aviation Organization