Brussels, 17/05/2016 (Agence Europe) - The International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) is not sufficiently ambitious for the goals of the Paris Agreement on climate to be realised, said a number of MEPs on Friday 13 May, after attending ICAO talks in Montreal on 11-12 May on tackling the CO2 emissions of a sector which could produce 22% of global emissions by 2050.
While hailing the “positive, open spirit of the discussions”, Julie Girling (ECR, UK) said that “much remains to be discussed and considered before a satisfactory solution can be reached to set up a global market mechanism that can bring substantial environmental benefits”. The system, she said, “must be designed to have as wide coverage as possible with a robust review mechanism in order to make it more ambitious in the near future. Sufficient flexibility to allow the option of continuation of the ETS is crucial”, she argued.
MEPs have not forgotten that, with its “Stop the clock” mechanism in 2014, the EU amended its ETS directive to allow ICAO time to come to a satisfactory agreement at its general assembly in October 2016, failing which the ETS, as initially conceived, would have to apply to all flights leaving or landing in the EU - including international flights.
ICAO is targeting growth in the sector with a carbon-neutral footprint from 2020 (by means of an average fuel efficiency improvement of 1.5% per year between 2009 and 2020), which would allow the sector to continue to expand without increasing its CO2 emissions. It hopes this autumn to agree a global market-based measure (MBM) involving an emissions compensation scheme between the aviation sector and other sectors (see EUROPE 1533).
The draft text under discussion includes a large number of exemptions for the poorest countries which could not be compensated by further action from the richest nations. This would mean that current proposals can only lead to ICAO's failing to reach its already modest goal, says the Greens/EFA in the European Parliament. “ICAO should acknowledge explicitly that carbon neutral growth is scarcely a first step. The agreement should include at least catch-up provision that would allow periodic re-assessments to increase emissions reduction until it is on the right track towards achieving the goals of the Paris Agreement. But, for the moment, such a mechanism is sadly lacking”, regretted the group which, like Karima Delli (France), cannot see why the aviation sector, which has thus far been exempted from any participation in efforts to tackle climate change, should be able to enjoy an exception system. (Original version in French by Aminata Niang)