The International Air Transport Association (IATA) and the Smart Freight Centre (SFC) announced today at IATA’s World Cargo Symposium (WCS) in Hong Kong a joint initiative to provide the air cargo industry with a standardized method for calculating CO2 emissions. This collaboration aims to drive transparency and efficiency in the sector’s decarbonization efforts and it will be available as of Q4 2024.
The primary focus of the partnership will be on developing the cargo version of IATA’s CO2 Connect system, which already has a successful passenger version launched in 2022. The CO2 Connect platform relies on primary industry data to deliver highly accurate carbon calculations. The collaboration with SFC’s Clean Air Transport program will promote the adoption of a common methodology for CO2 emission calculations, ensuring that major air cargo shippers and forwarders have access to accurate and consistent information. This will facilitate compliance with environmental regulations and strategic decision-making in terms of sustainability.
«Our partnership with the Smart Freight Center will help us to accelerate the development of CO2 Connect for air cargo as the most authoritative tool for carbon calculations. This is important for airlines, shippers and their customers who all need accurate calculations based on real data to support their contributions to global decarbonization efforts,» said Frederic Leger, IATA’s Senior Vice President of Commercial Products and Services.
Andrea Schoen, Director of SFC’s Clean Air Transport program, noted: «Our partnership with the Smart Freight Center will help us to accelerate the development of CO2 Connect for air cargo as the most authoritative tool for carbon calculations. This is important for airlines, shippers and their customers who all need accurate calculations based on real data to support their contributions to global decarbonization efforts.»
Collaboration with Kuehne+Nagel
To ensure that the CO2 Connect for Air Cargo tool meets the needs of the industry, IATA and SFC have joined forces with Kuehne+Nagel, a leading player in the air cargo sector, as a pilot customer.
«As a freight forwarder, we can attest to the value that this collaboration will bring to the industry and to our customers.» said Fabiano Piccinno, Global Head of Sustainability Air Logistics at Kuehne+Nagel. «We’re happy to bring our expertise to the table and we look forward to seeing this project paving the way for future sustainable solutions in aviation.»
IATA explained that the CO2 Connect for Air Cargo system will consider the airline-specific fuel burn for freighter and passenger aircraft carrying belly cargo, as well as passenger and cargo load factors. This information will allow for the accurate attribution of emissions to belly cargo.
The tool will align with IATA’s Recommended Practice 1678 and provide additional data such as WTW (well-to-wake), CO2e, and CO2/tonne-km, catering to the reporting needs of shippers who report their emissions using these metrics.
