Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 20 February 2024
162. Deputy Eoin Ó Broin asked the Minister for Transport to publish the State Action for Aviation Emissions Reduction which should have been submitted in 2021 to the International Civil Aviation Organisation. [7471/24]
Amharc ar fhreagraThe International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) initiative on State Action Plans for the reduction of CO2 emissions from international aviation aims to facilitate the path towards aviation decarbonisation and the mitigation of the impact of aviation on the global climate.
Launched on a voluntary basis by ICAO in 2010, Ireland was an early participant in the State Action Plan initiative, submitting its first Action Plan in 2012, and we remain committed to it. Ireland published an update to the State Action Plan in 2019, a copy of which is available on the Department’s website.
ICAO Assembly resolution (A40-18) requested states to submit or update existing plans by June 2021 and once every three years thereafter. Regrettably this work was delayed as resources were directed to ensuring that the aviation sector could survive and emerge from the Covid crisis.
Subsequent to this, a resolution adopted by the ICAO Assembly in October 2022 (A41-21) encouraged all States to submit voluntary State Action Plans, and to update them preferably by the end of June 2024 and every three years thereafter.
In addition to its membership of ICAO, Ireland is also a member of the European Civil Aviation Conference (ECAC) which comprises 44 Member States including all 27 EU Members. ECAC provides key supports to its members while also facilitating co-operation and collaboration on a pan-European wide basis. It develops common positions on the key aviation areas including environmental issues.
As an ECAC and EU Member State, Ireland incorporates an ECAC/EU Common Section within our Action Plan, which sets out the mitigating measures taken collectively in the ECAC/EU region. This section is submitted alongside input detailing local circumstances.
In September 2023 it was agreed that ECAC should cooperate with the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) to harmonise the content of the ECAC/EU Common Section with EASA’s European Aviation and Environment Report (EAER).
The EAER provides a comprehensive, accurate and objective overview of the environmental performance of the European aviation sector, the latest scientific understanding of the environmental impacts from aviation and mitigation measures to reduce these impacts. It is also required to provide recommendations on how the aviation sector could improve its environmental performance.
The harmonisation of the EU/ECAC Common section and the EAER would avoid duplication of effort and result in the inclusion of higher quality information in both.
Given the timeline for the production of the EAER, it is anticipated that the ECAC common section will be finalised in Q4 2024, and Ireland will submit an update of its State Action Plan soon thereafter.
