At the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change 16th Conference of the Parties (COP16), held November 29 to December 2010 in Cancun, Mexico, the conference recognized the international aviation industry for its commitment and vision to address climate change. To move toward meeting the target set by by the Kyoto Protocol, the aviation industry has committed to improving fuel efficiency by 1.5 percent per year and chopping net CO2 emissions in half by 2050.
With the Kyoto Protocol, 37 industrialized countries and the European community committed to reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by an average of 5 percent over the five-year period from 2008 to 2012. Although an agreement was not signed in Cancun, states pushed toward finishing the UNFCCC's work next year at the Conference of Parties (COP17) in Durban, South Africa.
"We are an industry unlike any other sector," said Marion Blakey, AIA president and CEO. "Few state delegations at last year's climate talks in Copenhagen were aware of aviation's outstanding track record on fuel efficiency or the global industry's dramatic commitments to reduce our carbon footprint. This year in Cancun, there was little doubt about either."
Following the birth of flight with the Wright brothers' work in 1903, the Aerospace Industries Association was founded in 1919 and is the most authoritative and influential trade association representing the country's leading manufacturers and suppliers of civil, military and business aircraft, helicopters and unmanned aircraft systems, as well as space systems, aircraft engines, missiles, homeland and cybersecurity systems, materiel and related components, equipment services and information technology.
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