Lloyd’s Register Quality Assurance to Independently Verify Airlines’ Carbon Data

Lloyd’s Register Quality Assurance (LRQA) has been chosen to support the global airline industry’s efforts to measure and offset the carbon emissions they produce when flying to and from European airports, as the EC’s member countries look to reduce the impact of global warming.

LRQA was accredited by UKAS to independently verify emissions-related data submitted by the individual airlines in accordance with legislation created to support the European Union’s Emissions Trading Scheme (EU ETS). The deadline for submissions is March 31, 2011.

The inclusion of some 4,000 airlines in the EU ETS, the world’s largest greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions-trading scheme, is expected to increase the annual amount of CO2 monitored under the scheme by about 10%, or to 1.85 billion tonnes. It currently covers about 12,000 installations.

"This is a significant expansion in the number of organisations requiring data verification in a very short period, so it is vital that aircraft operators engage with accredited verifiers as soon as possible to ensure a positive result before this tight deadline," said Madlen King, Global Head of Climate Change for LRQA. "Gaining accreditation by UKAS demonstrates the competence, impartiality and performance capability of the assessors at LRQA."

The EU ETS is one means by which the European Community intends to meet is commitments under the Kyoto Protocol, namely reducing its GHG emissions by at least 20% below 1990 levels by 2020, and by 30% if other developed countries commit themselves to similar targets.

The role of a verification body within that scheme is to provide confidence in the data reported by independently assessing the emissions and tonne-kilometre reports from the installations and operators that are obligated to submit.

"Some of our team were involved in the drafting of the monitoring and reporting guidelines for aviation’s inclusion in the scheme, so we have plenty of experience providing verifications for aircraft operators," said King. "This, together with our phased approach to verification spread over the coming months means that we are uniquely placed to ensure a positive result for these mandatory reports."