Climate change issue has caught the attention of aviation industries worldwide. At the Air

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Transport Symposium on Wednesday, minister of civil aviation Praful Patel along with representatives of International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO), International Air Transport Association (IATA) and European Commission emphasised the need to reduce carbon emissions by airlines across the globe.

“Climate change is a major issue world-wide. India is a responsible state. We will take various measures to ensure that there is lesser emission through airlines,” Patel said.

Aviation industry contributes about 2 per cent of total carbon emission globally. The industry biggies believe that even though 2 per cent emission is meagre compared with other industries, it has almost doubled in years. They said it was important on part of the airlines to adopt measures to bring down emission and therefore, there was a need for broader policy and regulations.

“We have already addressed the climate change issue at many forums. We had discussed it at G8 summit and will take it up again in Copenhagen conference on climate change,” Roberto Kobeh Gonzalez, president of ICAO, said.

The airlines at their level have also started taking initiatives to reduce their fuel consumption and thereby, carbon emission. “We are replacing our planes with new generation fleets that are likely to bring down fuel consumption significantly. The government support is also required in terms of route rationalisation and congestion free air traffic,” Tom Wright, general manager (India, Middle East, Africa and Pakistan), Cathay Pacific, said.