Scored evidence collected on an entity's engagement with land-use and circular economy policy will now be fully weighted into the final calculations for each entity's metrics. This follows a two year process where InfluenceMap has evolved its methodology to collect evidence on corporate and industry engagement with these key areas of climate-related policy.
We have strengthened the algorithm for discounting the impact older evidence on an organization's top-line metrics. Evidence from within the last two years is weighted the strongest and then gradually weighted out of the scoring calculations as it gets older. All evidence that is 5 years or older is completely removed from the scoring calculations. Users will still be able to view older evidence items that are archived the scoring matrix below, but these will not be impacting the organization's current scores.
Climate Policy Engagement Overview: The International Air Transport Association (IATA) is actively engaging against stringent climate policy for aviation at global, regional, and national levels in 2022-24. While IATA supported an aspirational net-zero global aviation carbon emissions 2050 target, it has used its support for the global CORSIA offsetting scheme to oppose more stringent regional and national climate regulation for aviation, including the inclusion of aviation in the EU Emissions Trading System.
Top-line Messaging on Climate Policy: IATA has both positive and negative top-line messaging on climate policy. IATA supported net-zero emissions from international aviation by 2050 in an October 2023 press release. While IATA’s 2022 Annual Review, appeared to support emissions reductions in line with a 1.5-degree target, it also emphasized cost concerns resulting from the EU’s Fit for 55 package. IATA similarly opposed ambitious regional and national climate legislation for aviation in a May 2022 blog, asserting that regional regulations “undermine” global action through ICAO. In a June 2023 fact sheet IATA further appeared to use support for global policy to oppose regional and national climate policies for aviation. In a February 2024 Airlines Magazine article, IATA appeared supportive of financial incentives in response to climate change, while opposing other forms of regulation or government intervention. IATA does not appear to have recently published a recent position on the Paris Agreement.
Engagement with Climate-Related Regulations: In an August 2022 IATA Working Paper ahead of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) 41st Assembly in September 2022, IATA appeared to directly advocate for ICAO to maintain a weakened baseline for the Carbon Offsetting and Reduction Scheme for International Aviation (CORSIA) of only 2019 emissions until 2035 (compared to the original baseline of an average of 2019-2020 emissions). Similarly, in a June 2023 fact sheet IATA advocated for a baseline of 85% of 2019 emissions for CORSIA, weakening the emissions reduction potential of the policy compared to CORSIA’s original baseline.
IATA consistently opposed the inclusion of aviation in the EU Emissions Trading System (EU ETS) and supported its replacement with CORSIA, including in a June 2023 Reuters article. Furthermore, in a June 2022 press release, IATA CEO, Willie Walsh, urged the EU Council to reject the expansion of the EU ETS to all flights departing the EEA, as proposed by EU Parliament, instead advocating for regulation by CORSIA. In an April 2023 blog post and February 2024 Airlines Magazine article IATA again opposed the potential expansion of the EU ETS to all flights departing the EEA.
In 2022-24, IATA appeared to oppose a stringent EU SAF mandate, while supporting SAF incentives. In January 2022, IATA published a document amending the EU Commission's ReFuelEU proposal. In the amendments, IATA appeared unsupportive of the inclusion of international flights in the EU SAF mandate and opposed e-fuel sub-mandates. Comments from IATA’s CEO, Willie Walsh, reported by Reuters in June 2023, further appeared to oppose the EU SAF mandate. In a Fact Sheet accessed in June 2022, IATA appeared to support SAF incentivizes as proposed by the US Government, while stating “a mandate policy is not IATA’s preferred option” when referring to the ReFuelEU Aviation initiative. IATA also appeared to support SAF incentives in a November 2023 response to Australia’s Aviation Green Paper, while appearing to only support SAF mandates if introduced with accompanying measures.
Through the ‘SAF BTC Coalition’ IATA supported the US SAF blenders tax credit and the Clean Fuel Production Credit with minor exceptions, including advocating for a book and claim system, in February 2023 and December 2022 US regulatory comments, respectively. However, in the same responses, IATA appeared to advocate for weaker sustainability criteria for SAFs to protect land-based carbon stores under the SAF blenders tax credit and Clean Fuel Producers Credit.
Positioning on Energy Transition: IATA actively opposed numerous measures to decarbonize aviation. According to a May 2022 Routes article, an IATA senior executive stated the EU kerosene tax “must be dropped”. Similarly, a June 2023 fact sheet opposed the EU kerosene tax. IATA further appeared to oppose Germany’s proposed kerosene tax in a December 2023 press release. A March 2023 IATA press release stated that IATA was taking legal action to oppose the Dutch government's policy to reduce flights at Schiphol airport. Similarly, a July 2023 press release by KLM disclosed opposition from many aviation groups including IATA on the Court of Appeals approval of a flight cap at Schiphol airport.
InfluenceMap collects and assesses evidence of corporate climate policy engagement on a weekly basis, depending on the availability of information from each specific data source (for more information see our methodology). While this analysis flows through to the company’s scores each week, the summary above is updated periodically. This summary was last updated in Q1 2024.