Brussels, 04/10/2013 (Agence Europe) - Meeting in Montreal on Friday 4 October, the 192 members of the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) managed to agree on a compromise paving the way for a global agreement on CO2 reductions for aviation, to be achieved by use of the market. The details of the agreement will be drawn up in 2016 and will come into force in 2020, but in the meantime, the deal does not allow the EU to force airlines from non-EU countries that land or take off from EU airports to abide by the EU's carbon trading system (ETS) (see EUROPE 10934). As we went to press, the ICAO plenary was voting on the compromise.
Consensus was reached after tough talks and the European negotiators are disappointed with it because their offer of a watered-down version of ETS for non-EU airlines in return for commitment by all parties to an agreed roadmap was rejected. Likewise, the idea of non-EU airlines being required to pay for only 15% of the quota for emissions generated in the EU (rather than for emissions generated around the world) was also rejected by a number of countries, including India, Argentina and Russia.
The consensus was welcomed, however, by the European Commission as a breakthrough.
Speaking in Montreal, EU Transport Commissioner Siim Kallas said a good deal was on the table and if it is confirmed, it will be a historic deal for global aviation emissions. EU Climate Action Commissioner Connie Hedegaard, who was at the meeting, decided to see the cup as half full. She tweeted that the EU's efforts had paid off and for the first time, the ICAO has found a way to reduce civil aviation emissions at global level, with a market measure that will apply around the world.
The agreement states that in 2016, when the agreement is formalised at an ICAO AGM, the economic and environmental impact and feasibility of various options for the market mechanism will need to be taken into account, which is a concession to the developing countries, headed by India.
Failed EU strategy. At the European Parliament, the Greens did not hide their disappointment, regretting that the deal postpones until 2020 any action on global measures and it also tries to prevent the EU from going ahead with ETS. The Greens say it was an error of judgment for the EU to have agreed in April to put ETS on hold for a year by granting a derogation to inter-continental flights and the ETS directive should now be applied in full.
MEP Satu Hassi (Greens/EFA, Finland) said: “Today's outcome confirms the flaws in the EU's strategy in freezing the implementation of the emissions trading scheme for non-intra-EU flights. The ICAO is both seeking to block EU action and once more stalling on urgently needed international measures to address the growing impact of airline emissions on climate change. (...) The EU must now stand firm and stick by its initial plans on aviation emissions. We should not dismantle effective climate policy instruments in exchange for a vague promise on a global scheme in the distant future without guarantees of environmental integrity or ambition.”
The reason for the EU agreeing to put ETS on hold for a year was to avoid a trade war breaking out with countries hostile to the carbon trading scheme. The EU hopes that a good agreement will be reached at the ICAO. (AN/transl.fl)