Spring 2024 newsletter
UNFCCC COP28 and related events
Global Sustainable Aviation Forum / COP28
The aviation industry invited visitors to COP28 to join the Global Sustainable Aviation Forum / COP28 on Wednesday 6 December 2023. For the first time ever, ATAG’s Forum was an official partnership event of the UNFCCC COP. It provided a great opportunity to showcase aviation’s climate-related activities and explain what is needed from governments, the finance sector and the energy industry to achieve the net zero carbon by 2050 goal.
The Global Sustainable Aviation Forum / COP28 was very successful, with participation reaching around 200 attendees including government representatives, and more than 30 expert industry speakers joining panel debates on:
- getting to net zero
- sustainable aviation fuel: the challenges and opportunities
- sustainable aviation fuel: no country left behind
- infrastructure and operations
- efficiency through technology
- decarbonisation: the big picture.
Please find below some photographs from the event. Recordings of the various sessions, the agenda and speaker biographies are all available from the event web page. ATAG’s media release is available here.
UNFCCC Conference of the Parties (COP28)
COP28 was the largest one so far. ATAG was present at the event to coordinate industry representation and advocacy. Around 60 delegates from the aviation sector attended over the two-week period and around 55 side events were conducted. ATAG also co-hosted a high-level roundtable as part of the Business and Philanthropy Climate Forum, focusing on SAF and new technology.
The main aviation messages at COP28 were to try and convey the outcomes of both the ICAO Assembly (aviation’s net zero 2050 long term goal) and the CAAF/3 meeting (a global framework to implement SAF and the goal of 5% average global carbon intensity improvement of the fuels we use) to governments, the finance community and energy sector, who were all at COP28.
Points to note for their relevance to aviation included:
- Operationalisation of the Loss and Damage Fund. France and Kenya launched a taskforce of countries to study options for implementing innovative taxes and levies, including potentially a levy on international flights. The taskforce is expected to report back at COP30 in two years. ATAG is monitoring developments on this issue.
- The Global Stocktake, which was a mandated item under the Paris Agreement and took stock of the state of progress towards the Paris Agreement goals.
- An inability to find consensus over the ICAO report on CAAF/3, which took place in the discussion on emissions from fuel used for international aviation and maritime transport, in the COP Subsidiary Body on Scientific and Technological Advice.
- Articles 6.5 and 6.4 of the Paris Agreement, which have implications for aircraft operators participating under the ICAO Carbon Offsetting and Reduction Scheme for International Aviation. An outcome was not reached on additional guidance for this.
For more information about COP28, please see:
- The ATAG internal aviation industry report on COP28
- ATAG’s media release: COP28 energy transition outcome welcomed by the aviation sector.
COP29 will be held in Baku, Azerbaijan from 11 to 24 November 2024. It is likely to be a smaller event than COP28 with less focus on aviation.