At its World Sustainability Symposium, in Miami, in the US state of Florida, the International Air Transport Association (IATA) has announced that it has partnered with Thrust Carbon to enlarge the distribution network for its IATA CO2 Connect passenger flight carbon emissions calculations tool. IATA is the representative body for the global airline industry. Thrust Carbon is a travel industry sustainability intelligence platform provider.

“The corporate travel sector needs accurate and comparable CO₂ emissions calculations for its environmental, social and governance (ESG) monitoring and reporting,” explained IATA senior VP commercial products and services Frederic Leger. “By working with Thrust Carbon, we will respond to this important need with calculations based on actual operational data provided by a growing community of airlines.”

Under the partnership, IATA will supply the airline carbon emission calculations (carried out using operational fuel burn data) to Thrust Carbon. The latter will then process them, according to the needs of their customers, who are largely in the corporate travel sector. These customers will use the processed data as part of their flight selection processes and as part of their ESG monitoring and reporting.

“As aviation’s main trade association, IATA has a long tradition in setting industry standards, and we are thrilled with the initiative they are taking towards achieving greater transparency and sustainability,” highlighted Thrust Carbon founder Kit Aspen. “As a result of our collaboration, our corporate customers can now have easier and wider access to the CO2 Connect methodology, including their data flowing in and out of every travel management company and expense platform. This enables more consistency for those customers, and the ability to accurately plan carrier and route changes to help meet reduction goals.”

Also during its World Sustainability Symposium, but separately, IATA announced that Delta Airlines (Delta) would both contribute operational fuel burn data to, and make use of, both the IATA CO2 Connect and the upcoming IATA CO2 Connect for Cargo aviation emissions calculators. With more some 4 000 flights every day, Delta will be the biggest single contributor of data to the calculators, out of the more than 40 airlines that are participating in the initiative.

“With Delta’s participation, IATA CO2 Connect will become an even stronger tool helping aviation to achieve net zero carbon emissions by 2050,” affirmed IATA senior VP sustainability and chief economist Marie Owens Thomsen. “IATA CO2 Connect’s methodology sets it apart because it uses operational data, not modelled averages. The vast amount of data from Delta’s worldwide operations is the raw material that will make IATA CO2 Connect’s calculation the most reliable for the measurement and reporting of CO₂ emissions.”

“IATA CO2 Connect has the potential to help airlines, like Delta, more effectively measure and advocate for decarbonisation efforts that are critical on our journey to net zero CO₂ emissions by 2050,” pointed out Delta chief sustainability officer Amelia DeLuca. “We believe at Delta that what gets measured gets done, and this is a great opportunity for the industry to align on reliable and consistent emissions data.”