Speaking following the 36th ICAO Assembly last week in Montreal, Jeffrey Shane, under secretary for policy at the US Department of Transportation and ICAO Assembly president, said: ‘A resolution was adopted which said that emissions trading schemes are fine, but they should not be applied to the aircraft of foreign countries without mutual consent.’
Instead ICAO will create a new working group, comprising senior government officials, with a mandate to recommend an ‘aggressive programme of action’ on international aviation and climate change.
Options to be considered include ‘voluntary measures, technological advances in both aircraft and ground-based equipment, more efficient operational measures, improvements in air traffic management, positive economic incentives and market-based measures’.
The European Commission announced last December that the ETS would be extended to cover emissions from intra-EU flights from 2011, and all flights to and from EU airports from 2012.
But the move has met with opposition, most notably from the US, which has threatened legal action if the EU pushes ahead, and the International Air Transport Association.
Giovanni Bisignani, IATA director general and chief executive, said this week: ‘Europe’s unilateral approach to emissions trading confuses taking leadership with taking cash. It is disappointing and irresponsible. Regional schemes will have, at best, limited impact on the environment.
‘And their unilateral application to foreign airlines is a clear breach of the Chicago Convention. The resulting trade and legal battles will distract governments from making real progress.’
However, speaking for Europe following the ICAO Assembly, Portugal’s director general of civil aviation, Luis Fonseca de Almeida, said: ‘We are disappointed by the outcome and believe ICAO has abdicated the leadership role given to it in the Kyoto Protocol. That is a very great failing that should concern us all.’
Jacques Barrot, EU transport commissioner and vice president, added that while ICAO had made an important contribution to safer air transport, its record on aircraft emissions was ‘simply not good enough’.
‘While Europe will continue to support and participate in ICAO work on the environment, we must make more and quicker progress to tackle the urgent problem of climate change,’ he said.
Set up by the United Nations in 1944, ICAO is tasked with drawing up global regulations for aviation safety, security and efficiency across 190 countries worldwide.
Background from e-tid.com:
Political will to slash CO2 footprint not there (20/06/07)
Europe and US in joint green aviation initiative (19/06/07)
Airlines warn of costs of ETS (08/06/07)
IATA outlines aviation's green agenda (05/06/07)