Carbon-free aviation: 42 countries sign the Toulouse declaration
The European aviation summit, which runs until Friday in Toulouse, saw 42 countries commit to carbon neutrality by 2050. French Transport Minister Jean-Baptiste Djebbari notably has a historic agreement.
The Toulouse aviation summit, which is summarized here at Enac*, ended with a success beyond expectations. Organized as part of the French presidency of the European Union, the meeting was intended to formalize a declaration aimed at achieving net carbon neutrality for commercial aviation by 2050. Finally, this European summit won the signature of the 27 member countries of the European Union represented by their Minister of Transport (face-to-face or by videoconference) and fifteen other third countries.
“We can cite the voluntary approach of joining the Toulouse declaration from the United Kingdom, the United States, Morocco and soon Georgia,” listed French Transport Minister Jean-Baptiste Djebbarri. However, the agreement intended to go beyond States to also involve the private sector. “For the first time, we have seen a common base emerge between public authorities and the aviation sector, with whom we have drawn up an ambitious strategy to decarbonize aviation,” summed up Adina Vălean, European Commissioner for Transport. Aeronautical manufacturers and equipment manufacturers (Airbus, ATR, Thales, Safran, etc.), airlines such as Air France, but also a myriad of airports including Aéroports de Paris (ADP) have joined in the commitment.
Optimize aircraft trajectory
For two days, the public and private sectors therefore reviewed all the levers that could be activated to make aviation “carbon neutral”. “The optimization of aircraft trajectories can be a very positive contributor to decarbonization in the short term,” argued Jean-Baptiste Djebbari. For planes to fly in a straight line, however, the single European sky project, which is still too fragmented today, will have to be advanced. The European commissioner specified that there was no miracle solution but “a basket of measures”. In particular, they describe the use of sustainable fuels produced from biomass (vegetable oils, cooking oils, animal fats, sugars, etc.) but also the modernization of the aircraft fleet.
Convince the ICAO
The latest generation aircraft consume between 15% and 25% less than previous generations, but only 13% of the world fleet uses these new technologies. This statement from Toulouse was taken in the presence of the President of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), which depends on the United Nations. France’s idea is to push the 193 members of this organization to adopt the Toulouse declaration at its next triennial general assembly, which is being held in September. The pitfall lies in the fact that unanimity is required in this assembly. It will therefore still be necessary to convince.