Brussels, 05/09/2013 (Agence Europe) - The European Union would be willing, until 2020, to lighten the application arrangements for its trading system of greenhouse gas emissions (ETS) for the civil aviation sector, on condition that the international partners make a commitment at the end of the month in favour of a global agreement on the reduction of air transport emissions, to be finalised in 2016 and to take effect in 2020, the European Commission confirmed on Thursday 5 September. The compromise proposal, which the United States finds acceptable, was tabled and discussed this week at the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) council and will be formally presented during the next ICAO assembly this autumn (Montreal, 24 September-4 October).
According to the terms of the draft compromise, as explained by Isaac Valero-Ladron, who is spokesman for Connie Hedegaard, European Commissioner for Climate Action, until 2020 the ETS would cover emissions from intra-European flights but, for intercontinental flights, only emissions produced on European territory would be covered. He said (our translation): “Negotiation is ongoing. We are offering a concession but it is a give-and-take thing”. He said (our translation): “We want a more ambitious result at the environmental level”. In his view, this will be the case if the European Union obtains what it wants. “The aviation sector will be the only sector regulated at global level and emissions reductions will be doubled”, the spokesman said. According to a calculation recently carried out by the European Commission services, a global agreement on reducing air transport emissions would make it possible to reduce CO2 emissions by around 40% by 2050 while, over the same period, the ETS would only allow a 20% reduction.
Initially, the ETS directive (Directive 2003/87/EC) made it an obligation for airlines with flights to and from EU airports to pay for 15% of the emissions quotas allocated to them, to the great disappointment of many ICAO members. In order to appease third countries (United States, Russia, China, India especially) and to avoid a trade war, the EU decided to “stop the ETS clock” by granting, as of 30 April this year, a temporary one-year derogation (for the year 2012) for intercontinental flights by EU or third country airlines. The EU had nonetheless made the granting of the derogation subject to obtaining a substantial international agreement at the ICAO on a market instrument that is able to reduce emissions from the aviation sector. Although the “new deal” proposed has not been agreed upon, the EU will apply its legislation in the strictest sense. (AN/transl.jl)