COP30: How the outcomes can help define an era of sustainable air cargo

Explore the pivotal outcomes of COP30, their impact on global logistics, and how CHAMP’s future-ready solutions can empower the transition to sustainable aviation fuel (SAF).

The 30th United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP30) in Belém, Brazil, established pivotal frameworks and financing commitments that will see change across the global sustainability landscape. Some of the key outcomes included:

• The Belém 4X Pledge
• Reaffirmation of CORSIA and Article 6
• Fossil fuel transition roadmap
• Climate finance and adaptation commitments

These developments all signal an acceleration in global efforts to decarbonize aviation, scale SAF adoption, and build climate-resilient supply chains. CHAMP is already prepared to help the industry navigate these changes in 2026.

Belém 4X (Quadrupling clean fuels by 2035)

Launched at COP30, Belém 4X unites over 23 countries and industry bodies in agreeing to quadruple the use of sustainable fuels, including SAF, by 2035. The pledge is a direct response to the International Energy Agency (IEA)’s net-zero roadmap and is designed to close the widening gap between current fuel production and long-term decarbonization goals in aviation.

For air cargo, this creates an immediate operational need for robust digital SAF certification. CHAMP’s Cargospot neo and Traxon suites are designed to manage SAF credit data and ensure a reliable 'chain of custody' across the supply chain:

• The Cargospot neo product suite helps capture and manage operational data. This includes aircraft type, route, cargo, and fuel expenditure. These measures can ensure emissions are tracked accurately. The detailed data can then be used by downstream systems to form the immutable audit trail, essential for verifying SAF credits and certifications, such as sustainable aviation fuel certificates (SAF-C). 
• Traxon Quality and Traxon CDMP (Cargo iQ Data Management Portal) track shipment milestones and can integrate the data with emissions calculations to create a digital ‘chain of custody’. This provides forwarders with trusted proof of cargo being carried on specific flights where SAF was used. The resulting data can serve as an input to immutable audit trails for SAF-C. 
• As SAF is considered the main lever for decarbonization in aviation, CHAMP welcomes standardized, digital fuel certification data, for which ONE Record provides the foundation. 1Neo-Connect supports stakeholders in adopting the new data standard and eventually, through widespread uptake, helping achieve a single, accurate, and trusted SAF-C record. 

CHAMP’s webinar ‘Sustainability compliance in air cargo: What’s coming & how to prepare?’ further explores the path to wider, accelerated SAF uptake and certification, and the opportunities that SAF-C exchange can bring.

CORSIA and Article 6 (Carbon Markets) 

The Carbon Offsetting and Reduction Scheme for International Aviation (CORSIA) is the world’s first market scheme to limit CO2 emissions in aviation. IATA and global governments issued a joint statement at Belém, urging its full implementation, along with Article 6 of the Paris Agreement, a framework for international carbon credit trading to achieve climate targets. 

Precise CO2 measurement is no longer optional. CHAMP solutions provide the granular visibility required for these new regulatory demands. For example, Traxon Premium Tracking provides precise visibility and data to support the tracking demands of emissions reporting and Article 6 compliance:

• Traxon Premium Tracking delivers end-to-end shipment visibility across all carriers and booking origins, automatically tracking every Air Waybill (AWB) and continuously monitoring supply chain events. With detailed status updates and historical checks, Traxon Premium Tracking captures a complete record of status changes, providing high-quality, verifiable data that can be used to support accurate emissions reporting and Article 6 compliance.

By providing the conditions for accurate calculation of Scope 3 (indirect supply chain) emissions, Traxon Premium Tracking gives customers a tool to simplify how they demonstrate compliance with current and emerging regulatory requirements, a key advantage as the Global Implementation Accelerator pushes countries to meet their Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs).

Fossil fuel transition roadmap

While COP30 launched a roadmap to transition from fossil fuels, the global phase-out remains voluntary. This means different regions will progress at different speeds.

As a result, the global market landscape will see countries meet this agreement at different rates; some will accelerate their transition to sustainable fuels, while others will opt to maintain their current use of fossil fuels.

Although SAF is the key driver to the air cargo industry’s goal of becoming net-zero by 2050, uptake is constrained by limited availability, production capacity, and higher costs, which are dependent on customer demand, regulatory mandates, and long-term sustainability commitments. However, reducing any fuel consumption would benefit the industry’s carbon footprint CHAMP solutions currently provide businesses with immediate efficiency gains today while they prepare for a greener tomorrow:

• Cargospot Weight & Balance is our advanced AI-powered load optimization tool that, among other purposes, works to minimize fuel consumption, weight imbalances, and unused cargo space.

SAF uptake will remain the largest contributing factor to reducing air cargo’s overall environmental impact, but to further enhance the positive effects of using sustainable fuel, AI-powered optimization solutions such as Cargospot Weight & Balance can help reduce energy consumption, fuel burn, save on costs, and close the gap to a greener air cargo industry.

Climate finance and adaptation

Climate Adaptation will also require strategic innovators to help anticipate, mitigate, or respond to climate-based supply chain impacts. CHAMP solutions support airlines and forwarders in making route changes mitigating risks in real-time or exception planning in the event of changing climate conditions, by helping to promptly distribute and display changes to the customer’s booking: 

• Traxon cargoHUB’s electronic data interchange (EDI) facilitates seamless data exchange across the supply chain that will enable significant route barrier identification, exception planning, route change management during climate events, and continue to provide seamless connectivity across the global airfreight community.

By digitalizing and accelerating communication between stakeholders, CHAMP converts a potential supply chain failure into a manageable route adjustment. CHAMP, as a trusted industry innovator, recognizes the need for continued delivery of solutions to make the supply chain more climate-resilient and to maintain critical trade continuity in potentially disruptive climate events. 

Prepare for a more sustainable future for our industry and become empowered to transition to SAF with CHAMP's support. Discover more about CHAMP’s commitment to shaping a more sustainable, integrated world of air cargo.

Or view and download the slides from our latest sustainability webinar, ‘Sustainability compliance in air cargo: What’s coming & how to prepare?’