IBA, in partnership with KPMG, has published its latest aviation carbon emission index to show regional attitudes to emerging CORSIA emissions regulation. The IBA NetZero reveals that CO2 emissions from the commercial aviation industry averaged 142.07 grams of CO2 per seat per mile in October 2022 – a decrease of 0.1% month-on-month. This represents a 1.4% reduction in CO2 intensity year-on-year. The total number of flights in October decreased by less than 1% in comparison to September 2022.
Besides, increased passenger traffic and the lifting of pandemic restrictions led to increasing in the total emission by 18% year-on-year from October 2021. The report also shows improvement in fleet efficiency as compared to pre-pandemic levels. Total emissions are down by almost 25% as compared to October 2019.
IBA’s data shows that Europe & CIS, the Middle East, and Africa are all voluntarily including at least 85% of international flights in CORSIA. This means that CORSIA regulators will be able to calculate an accurate offsetting obligation for carbon emissions above the 2019-20 baseline of airlines, and they will subsequently be exposed to the actual costs associated with CORSIA well in advance of 2027. In contrast, airlines in North America, Latin America, and Asia Pacific are lagging, with North America including just 38%.
Ian Beaumont, CEO of IBA, said: “The SAF-heavy nature of October’s sustainable aviation news offers encouragement for the investment environment into existing and new technologies. IBA’s NetZero projections will continue to provide leading mitigation pathway and cost intelligence across operators and models.”
IBA expects that fleet renewal is currently the leading driver of change in this ranking with operators continuing to optimize their current generation fleets. The report also highlights that newer generation aircraft are on average, around 20% more fuel efficient than their current generation counterparts, with aircraft such as the Airbus A321Nx proving particularly attractive to operators.