UN-backed body confirms plans for global aviation emissions cap

The UN-backed International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) last week confirmed it is pressing ahead with plans for an international carbon emissions cap-and-trade scheme for the aviation industry, despite the emergence of a growing number of potentially rival regional schemes.

Speaking at a meeting of global transport ministers in Tokyo, Roberto Kobeh Gonzalez, president of the ICAO's Council, told news agency Reuters that EU proposals to include aviation in its regional emissions trading scheme (ETS) would not derail the organisation's plans to build a framework that could underpin a global scheme.

The EU's plans have attracted plenty of criticism from the aviation industry, which fears that the potential inclusion of airlines in regional trading schemes, such as the EU scheme and planned similar initiatives in Australia, South Korea and the US, would increase costs and create a skewed competitive landscape that penalises those airlines operating in certain territories.

US airlines have already threatened to take legal action against the EU scheme, while The Association of Asia-Pacific Airlines has also voiced concerns over a scheme it believes would adversely affect long-haul flights from Asia.

Kobeh Gonzalez said that the ICAO could help address these concerns by developing a global scheme that would create a universal carbon pricing scheme under which the entire global industry would operate. "ICAO is a global organisation, it is not a regional organisation. We have to work on a global basis and this is our responsibility," he told Reuters.

The level of opposition to the EU proposals has reportedly allowed the ICAO to secure support from a growing number of airlines, including those within the Association of Asia-Pacific Airlines, for its plans.

However, Kobeh Gonzalez hinted that the development of a global aviation emissions trading scheme – which could form part of any post-Kyoto deal agreed at this year's UN climate change talks in Copenhagen – would not necessarily exempt airlines from the EU scheme.

He said that instead, the EU scheme could be integrated into any UN-backed scheme, adding that the proposed inclusion of aviation in the EU ETS from 2013 meant the UN scheme would not "have to start from zero".

In related news, transport ministers from 21 countries attending the Tokyo talks agreed to promote efforts to curb emissions from transport as a key component of the UN plans for a post-Kyoto deal.

The ministers, including representatives from Japan, the EU, Russia and China issued a joint statement at the close of the talks, recognising the need for the transport sector to play a role in curbing CO2 emissions and air pollutants.

Attendees at the meeting said the deal would help promote the inclusion of the transport sector in the next round of UN climate change talks to agree a global regulatory framework.