Back to Air Transport IT Review - Issue 2, September 2009
IT and sustainable air transport
Industry Insight: A carbon neutral industry
The air transport industry is preparing to respond to the launch of emissions trading schemes at all levels, with support from key organizations such as ICAO, Eurocontrol and SITA.
SITA's launch of the world's first software tool to accurately measure carbon emissions from aircraft operators is a crucial step forward in supporting airlines simplify compliance with environmental regulation.
A variety of government schemes and discrete sectoral approaches have led airlines to ask a number of fundamental questions: What is being regulated and by whom? Which data will we need to give and to whom? When are the deadlines? And what amendments have been made to which regulations, as of when?
The impact of the EU's Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) - the most advanced scheme - will be global, impacting some 3,000 operators flying into or out of European airspace. Other less advanced schemes, such as those promised in Australia, New Zealand, the US and Japan, as well as initiatives from ICAO (see panel) and IATA, will add further complexity.
What is certain is that every system will need accurate data and will need to demonstrate compliance. Three tasks - together are known as MRV - are required of any compliance tool:
- The ability to monitor carbon dioxide emissions, including the variables that arise according to operating conditions, altitude, etc.
- The infrastructure for reporting what is monitored to the relevant authorities
- The assurance of accuracy provided by verification
Collective approach
But with so many permutations available, including different types of regulation, the cost and resource required in an airline responding individually to new requirements would be considerable.
The question for airlines to answer for themselves is whether to invest capital in developing their own MRV system, or to pay from operating budgets to outsource the service, with attendant benefits including the security of knowing that changes in regulation or in schemes will be covered by the outsource service provider.
"SITA already provides a trusted, neutral interface between national authorities and airlines," said Frédéric Falise, Head of SITA's Environment Programme, addressing delegates at SITA's Air Transport IT Summit.
"There is an urgent need for a community approach to accurate reporting of carbon emissions. We have developed a response that can be deployed in any region."
Control cost
"One of the drivers for the SITA Working Group on Environmental Regulation was to understand how information technology systems can help airlines demonstrate their compliance, and control their environmental data, without suffering undue economic consequences," he said.
"This has been achieved and we have a solution that will reduce the costs of verification and also the chances of litigation between airlines and regulators by ensuring competitive fairness amongst stakeholders.
"The most pressing issue now is to support those airlines operating to, from and within EU member states which must submit plans for monitoring and reporting carbon dioxide emissions by 31 August - in advance of a 2010 pre-compliance phase for the European Union's Environmental Trading Scheme, which will include aviation from 2012. We are pleased to see the Arab Air Carriers Organization taking the lead on implementation and we are confident that others will follow."
Enter Eurocontrol
Timeliness, quality, consistency and cost effectiveness are, of course, critical to ensuring the provision of accurate data, but flight record management is key: data must be 100 percent complete and accurate. Which is where the work being undertaken by Eurocontrol will also be essential.
As Andrew Watt, Head of Environment at the organization, explained at the IT Summit: "Since 2004 Eurocontrol has been estimating the environmental impact of some 10 million flights a year, based on actual data of flight plans.
"Material accumulated from just over 20 million flights has enabled us to deliver on the requirement in our Cooperation Agreement with the European Union for historical average emissions for every operator using European air space for the period 2004-06. That will provide the base line for the ETS from 2012. We can also verify data by using the ATC charging process, as well as provide plausible values for verification of fuel burn."
The organization is now developing a prototype support facility for the benefit of airlines using EU airspace, accessed through Eurocontrol's secure operational portals. The prototype's capabilities will be demonstrated to stakeholders in September, with a business case presented to the organization's governing body in December. If approved, this will lead to development and operational deployment in 2010-2011, in time for the start of the ETS in 2012.
More information: www.sita.aero/environment and www.eurocontrol.int/environment.
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