The International Civil Aviation Organization (Icao) lauded the Philippines for submitting its State Action Plan on CO2 Emissions Reduction for International Aviation, as this jump-starts the reduction of carbon emissions in the country’s airspace.
In a letter to the Civil Aviations Authority of the Philippines, Icao Secretary-General Fang Lui said the submission of the said action plan shows the commitment of the Philippines toward environmental sustainability.
“The submission of an action plan provides an opportunity to establish and showcase strategies to reduce aviation emission,” he said.
The document is a voluntary planning and reporting tool for countries to communicate information on their activities to address international civil aviation’s carbon-dioxide (CO2) emissions.
It aims for better understanding of the share and projections of international aviation CO2 emissions, enhanced cooperation between all aviation stakeholders that can positively reflect on their operational areas, and the identification of the most relevant mitigation actions.
The Philippines’s State Action Plan indicates the activities undertaken by the country, as well as the planned mitigation strategies that it wants to implement in the future to further reduce CO2 emissions in the sky.
These mitigation measures include the development of biofuel as an alternative fuel and improvement of air-traffic management and infrastructure through the establishment of a performance-based navigation system in all public aerodromes to increase airspace capacity, improve aviation safety and reduce aviation activities’ environmental impact.
“The government’s initiatives against pollution does not end in public-utility vehicles, we also have endeavors for airplanes, ships and other modes of transportation. No one is exempted. This is our commitment to global efforts in mitigating climate change,” Transportation Secretary Arthur P. Tugade said.
In 2017 the Philippines also proved its compliance with international safety standards by successfully passing the Universal Safety Oversight Audit Programme of the Icao Coordinated Validation Mission.
In the audit, airports in the Philippines got an overall result of 70.19 percent, which is above the global average, or 64 percent, and higher than the previous rating of 59.94 percent.