THE International Air Transport Association (IATA) and the Smart Freight Centre (SFC) have partnered to provide consistent and transparent CO2 emissions calculations for air cargo shipments.

IATA says the two organisations will focus efforts on developing the cargo component of IATA’s CO2 Connect offering, which successfully launched its passenger version in 2022. The platform uses primary industry data to power highly accurate carbon calculations.

The collaboration with the SFC Clean Air Transport Program will promote a common methodology in CO2 emission calculations and ensure accurate and consistent CO2 calculations are distributed to the industry’s biggest shippers and freight forwarders in air cargo, supporting them with pre-shipment and reporting purposes, the partners say.

Frederic Leger, IATA’s SVP for Commercial Products & Services, told the World Cargo Symposium in Hong Kong the partnership would help accelerate the development of CO2 Connect for air cargo as the most authoritative tool for carbon calculations. This was important for airlines, shippers and their customers who all need accurate calculations based on real data to support their contributions to global decarbonisation efforts, he said.

“Transparency is key to drive decarbonization investments and activities, encouraging collaborative and synergetic action throughout the value chain,” said Andrea Schoen, SFC director of the Clean Air Transport program. Our partnership with IATA will enable effective collaboration by building trust and exchanging information across the value chain which, in turn, will help in accelerating our ongoing efforts in decarbonizing the aviation industry,”

IATA and SFC are working with Kuehne+Nagel as a pilot customer for IATA CO2 Connect for Cargo to ensure that the tool meets the needs and requirements of freight forwarders and their customers. “As a freight forwarder, we can attest to the value that this collaboration will bring to the industry and to our customers.” said Fabiano Piccinno, Global Head of Sustainability Air Logistics at Kuehne+Nagel. “We’re happy to bring our expertise to the table and we look forward to seeing this project paving the way for future sustainable solutions in aviation.”