Environmental activists to protest ICAO’s push for aviation biofuel

In Canada, a large civil society coalition has formed in Montreal in response to the upcoming UN’s International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) Assembly, demanding to radically cut air traffic. Several actions are planned, including a mass demonstration with Greta Thunberg passing by the ICAO headquarters on Friday, 27th of September – the international Climate Strike day.

The ICAO proposes to achieve “carbon neutral growth” for international aviation using “alternative” fuels and carbon offsets, under a scheme called CORSIA (Carbon Offsetting and Reduction Scheme for International Aviation). “CORSIA is a dangerous, deeply flawed distraction that will result in more, not less emissions”, warns Magdalena Heuwieser from Stay Grounded, an international network for reducing air traffic, combining 138 member organizations.

“Corsia promotes large-scale aviation biofuels, likely from palm oil, which will cause more deforestation and make climate change even worse”, explains Rachel Smolker from Biofuelwatch. ICAO’s goal is to increase so-called “alternative aviation fuels.” A new briefing by Biofuelwatch explains that aviation biofuels are most likely to be produced from palm oil, a leading cause of deforestation, greenhouse gas emissions and human rights abuses. The company Neste, with a facility in Singapore, the heart of palm oil growing region, has already announced its intention to become the world leader in aviation biofuel production. Introducing huge new demand for palm oil will only exacerbate the existing problems with palm oil, and do nothing to reduce emissions from aviation.