Iata to push for global emission cap scheme

SINGAPORE - The International Air Transport Association (Iata) is committed to ensuring the successful adoption of proposals at the next International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) assembly in 2016 for a market-based measures (MBM) scheme to cap airlines' carbon emissions, said Iata's director-general Tony Tyler.

"We will work hard to see that happen. The worst possible outcome for us is the failure of states to implement a global scheme, with the result of a proliferation of regional schemes," said Mr Tyler, adding that this could lead to overlap and conflict.

The scheme should be efficient, fair and simple to understand, he emphasised. At the 38th assembly of the ICAO earlier this month, the United Nations aviation body agreed to establish a global scheme to curb the growth of greenhouse gas emissions from the aviation industry.

The next ICAO assembly in 2016 will see the first proposals for the single global scheme with the aim of implementing it in 2020.

This comes about a year after Europe put on hold its plans to incorporate international aviation in its Emissions Trading System (ETS), which would force airlines to pay an emissions tax to Europe based on the distance from the last point of take-off.

The plan incited staunch opposition from a number of countries, including China and India, that nearly sparked a trade war.

"We'll now have to see how the EU institutions decide to respond over the next few weeks. The (European) Commission rightly recognises this as a major step forward," Mr Tyler said at a media briefing yesterday. "Institutionally, it will be necessary for the European Parliament to pass some legislation changing the clock stopping arrangements."

Commenting on whether he was confident that Europe would now shelve its plan to include international flights under the ETS, he added: "It wouldn't make sense for them not to enthusiastically adopt what's happened at ICAO. The discussions at ICAO clearly indicated the importance that states around the world attach to having a global scheme rather than a proliferation of regional schemes."

The industry is working towards carbon neutral growth from 2020, and to cutting net emissions in half by 2050 vis-a-vis 2005 levels. Still, there are other points of contention with countries such as China and Saudi Arabia calling for "differentiated responsibilities", which would force wealthier countries to shoulder a bigger burden in cutting down carbon emissions.

At Iata's AGM in June this year, members passed a resolution which set out some of the principles that a global scheme should follow, many of which were adopted by the ICAO in its own resolution.

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