IATA’s Tony Tyler reflects on the airline industry’s approach to climate change.

As an aviation community, we are acutely aware of our environmental impact and of our shared responsibility to manage and reduce it. It’s a big challenge, and we can be proud of aviation’s progress.

We have set tough targets and committed to a strategy to meet them. We have planned not only for the short and medium term but also – because we know there is no overnight fix for the problem – for the long term, to 2050. Collaboration through industry partnerships, innovation, and industry unity are key.

The work being done by airlines and air navigation service providers (ANSPs) is a great example of teamwork. More efficient routings offer one of the best potential short- to medium-term solutions for reducing emissions, so it is good to see many airlines and ANSPs working so closely together on this.

However, we are just scratching the surface of what potentially could be achieved. As partners, we must continuously challenge each other with the aim of eliminating carbon-wasting inefficiency on a much broader scale.

For airlines, one of the strongest areas of innovation is the use of sustainable aviation fuels. The work of the Sustainable Aviation Fuels User Group has been vital to ensure that our fuels won’t compete with food sources or damage biodiversity. There are many initiatives worldwide that are improving our understanding of how biofuels can be integrated into everyday operations.

IATA has stated that a global offsetting scheme would be our preferred market-based measure (MBM). Offsetting is important because it is a legitimate means for the industry to achieve carbon-neutral growth. The planet does not care where emissions reductions come from – they just need to happen. So, it makes sense for aviation, while it continues to take every step it can for itself, to encourage reductions in other business sectors where the scope for emissions cuts is greater. This is the swiftest and most efficient means of cutting carbon.

The united approach we have taken over the years, on our four-pillar strategy, on our carbon goals, and on our preferred MBM, has stood us in good stead. Governments have heard a clear message from industry.

We have only 12 months to go before the International Civil Aviation Organization makes its decision on that MBM. In the hands of 190 states will be the power to make aviation’s carbon-neutral growth goal a reality.

The stakes are high. If an agreement on an MBM is reached, then aviation will have taken its claim to be at the forefront of the practical fight against man-made climate change one giant step further.

I hope and believe that a workable MBM will be put in place. But, it will not be easy. There is hard work ahead; the industry will need to stand united as the details are worked out. Failure to remain united could lead to an untenable patchwork of regulation, taxes, charges, and onerous measures yet to be conceived.

Since we made our carbon commitments in 2009, more than 600 million tons of emissions have been avoided as a direct result of efforts associated with our four-pillar strategy. Our united and visionary position has helped us to maintain the high ground with the moral authority to call for governments to act, not only on the issue of an MBM but on other aspects, such as long-overdue air traffic management reform, and putting in place policies to accelerate the production of sustainable fuels.

Aviation’s growth is essential to a more sustainable future for our planet – economically and environmentally. Aviation’s greatest environmental service is to do what it keeps on doing – drive social and economic growth in every corner of our planet.