1. Prototype UN Air Travel CO2 Calculator
Ted Thrasher
Environmental Officer – ICAO
Issue Management Group Climate Neutral UN
24 November 2008

2. Overview Introduction to ICAO and CAEP
Overview of ICAO Carbon Emissions Calculator (public)
Aviation Carbon Calculation Methodology
Introduction to Aviation Carbon Calculator (UN Prototype)
Project Status
Non-CO2 Multipliers for Aviation
Next Steps

3. International Civil Aviation Organization
Specialized Agency of the United Nations
Created in 1944 by the Convention on International Civil Aviation
Membership: 190 Contracting States
Strategic Objective on Environmental Protection : Minimize the adverse effect of global civil aviation on the environment

4. Environmental Protection
Context:
Past/Future growth
Increased public awareness
New information emerging on problems to which civil aviation may be contributing

5. ICAO’s Work on the Environment
ICAO has been working with environmental issues since 1960s
ICAO’s current activities are largely carried out through its Committee on Aviation Environmental Protection (CAEP)

6. Environmental Protection
ICAO Assembly
Council
Air Transport
Committee
Air Navigation
Commission
Committee on Aviation
Environmental Protection

7. CAEP Membership 22 Member States Global representation 13 Observers
Primary aviation stakeholder representation
Airlines, air navigation service providers, airports, manufacturers, UN (UNFCCC, WMO), international coalition of NGOs

8. ICAO Carbon Emissions Calculator
Transparent
Easy-to-use
Publicly available
Delivers consistent estimates of CO2 – suitable for use with offset programs
Link to Methodology
Significant public interest – feedback averages 1 message per day

9. Aviation Carbon Calculation Methodology
Methodology Development Team
Aviation Carbon Estimation (ACE) and later Aviation Carbon Calculator Support (ACCS) group formed within CAEP
Membership
ICAO Secretariat
International Coalition for Sustainable Aviation - ICSA*
Agência Nacional de Aviação Civil (BR)
Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Local Government (AU)
Department for Transport / Manchester Metropolitan University (UK)
International Air Transport Association - IATA
International Coordinating Council of Aerospace Industries Associations - ICCAIA
Luftfartsstyrelsens (SE)
National Air Navigation Services Company (EG)
Transport Canada (CA)
*ACCS Group lead

10. Aviation Carbon Calculation Methodology (cont.)
Objective
User-friendly, unbiased, tool to compute carbon emissions from air travel
Best publicly available data
Fully documented

11. Aviation Carbon Calculation Methodology (cont.)
Assumptions
Only passengers are modelled (currently)
Weighted average of all aircraft types serving city-pair, based on market share
All economy seating configuration assumed
Passenger + bags (economy) = 100 kg
Passengers flying in “premium” class assessed 2x CO2 of economy passengers
Load factors applied based on 17 route-groups
Aircraft fly no-wind, great circle distance profile, plus a “correction factor” to account for airspace system inefficiencies and weather
Individual aircraft types mapped to types where performance data are available

12. Aviation Carbon Calculation Methodology (cont.)
Data Sources
Aircraft types and frequency of flights: OAG
Aircraft fuel consumption: CORINAIR
Passenger load factor: ICAO collected data
Passenger to Cargo ratio: ICAO collected data
Aircraft seat configuration: ICAO collected data

13. Aviation Carbon Calculation Methodology (concl.)
Origin and
Destination Airports
CORINAIR
OAG
Pax:Cargo
Ratio
Load
Factor
CO2 for
Selected Trip
Weighted Average
Fuel Burn
Number of
Economy
Passengers
Great Circle
Distance +
Correction Factor
Class of Service
CO2 per
Economy
Passenger
Class of
Service Factor

14. UN Prototype Aviation Carbon Calculator
Motivation
Climate Neutral Initiative requires inventories of CO2 from all UN Organizations
Aviation CO2 emissions estimated in a variety of ways UN-wide
UN aviation expert is ICAO
Peer reviewed, internationally approved tool available to leverage

15. UN Prototype Aviation Carbon Calculator
UN Air Travel Data Sources
Integrated Management Information System (IMIS)
Atlas
Other

16. UN Prototype Aviation Carbon Calculator
Requirements
Microsoft Excel
Windows XP SP2 or higher
Input Data
3-letter (IATA) airport code for each leg of the trip
Class of service used
Travel data should include trips by air only (this is an aviation carbon calculator)

17. Sample IMIS Data

18. UN Prototype Aviation Carbon Calculator

19. UN Prototype Aviation Carbon Calculator (concl.)

20. Project Status For offices running IMIS
Some manual conversion of data necessary to ensure proper 3-letter airport codes available for each leg
With data in a consistent format, prototype is functional and will be provided for testing
For offices running Atlas
UNDP is meeting internally to discuss how to provide travel data in a consistent format
For other systems
Technical points of contact have been identified and are being contacted

21. Non-CO2 Multipliers for Aviation
IPCC Special Report on Aviation and the Global Atmosphere (1999), at ICAO’s request
Estimated aircraft in 1992 contributed to 3.5% to total radiative forcing with an RFI of 2.7
IPCC Fourth Assessment Report (2007) – reflects additional research
Estimated aircraft in 2005 contributed to 3.0% of total radiative forcing, with an RFI of 1.9
RFI is not intended as a multiplier of CO2 emissions
RFI is a backward-looking metric – not for evaluating future scenarios
Effects beyond CO2 need to be accounted for scientifically
Other metrics such as Global Warming Potential (GWP) and Global Temperature Potential (GTP) are in development, but are not yet available
Legal, Budgetary, Credibility issues with applying multipliers based on immature science
Given these considerations, the ICAO Carbon Emissions Calculator reports CO2 only

22. Conclusions and Next Steps
ICAO is developing an interface to the Aviation Carbon Emissions Calculator that can be used by every travel office in the UN system
Directly supports the UN Climate Neutral Initiative
UNEP offices running IMIS part of initial test
Working to resolve mode of travel issue with Atlas
Following test period, tool will be made more broadly available within the UN system

23. Thank You