According to the United Nations (U.N.) Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Fifth Assessment Report (IPCC AR5) (2014), there is scientific consensus the climate is changing, and will continue to change for the foreseeable future. While the aviation sector operates safely and efficiently in a variety of climates, climate change is likely to pose a number of risks in the future, including an increase in the frequency or intensity of disruptive weather events in some areas of the world as well as slower onset risks such as sea level rise, potentially beyond the current capacity for resilience of the aviation system. These disruptions can cause damage to airport infrastructure and operations, with economic, safety, and social consequences.
The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) Committee on Aviation Environmental Protection (CAEP) tasked Working Group on Airports and Operations (WG2) with developing a Climate Adaptation Synthesis Analysis to provide information on those potential risks. This report synthesizes existing information on the range of projected climate impacts on the aviation sector to better understand risks to airports, air navigation service providers (ANSPs), airlines, and other aviation infrastructure. It also identifies impacts that are already being experienced and that may relate to climate change, on a local, regional and global level, including examples of related adaptation and resiliency actions.
This report identifies potential impacts of climate change that may affect the global aviation sector, together with concrete adaptation and resiliency measures that may be implemented to tackle them. It will support a wide range of aviation stakeholders in adaptation planning and action in their own states or organizations. The full Synthesis can be viewed, by clicking on the link on the lower right.
For a quick high level overview of specific topics within the Synthesis factsheets have been developed. These factsheets, directly related to the Climate Adaptation Synthesis Document, can be downloaded from the links below:
