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EU Says Aviation Organization Recognizes European Carbon Market
2010-10-09 13:17:24.955 GMT
By Ewa Krukowska and Jonathan Stearns
Oct. 9 (Bloomberg) -- The European Union claimed a
diplomatic victory at an international aviation meeting, saying
the participants accepted the EU's plan to cap emissions by
domestic and foreign airlines serving Europe as of 2012.
The European Commission, the 27-nation EU's executive arm,
also said the International Civil Aviation Organization reached
a "breakthrough" agreement at its meeting that ended yesterday
to curb global aircraft discharges of greenhouse gases beginning
in 2020.
Such pollution is blamed for global climate change, which
the EU is handling in part by adding airlines to its emissions
trading system in less than 15 months.
"Critically, the deal is a good basis for proceeding
swiftly with the inclusion of aviation in the EU's Emissions
Trading Scheme," EU Climate Commissioner Connie Hedegaard said
in a statement published in Brussels today. "The goal is not as
ambitious as Europe thinks it should be, but at the same time
ICAO has recognised that some states may take more ambitious
actions prior to 2020."
The agreement, reached in Montreal after almost a decade of
deadlock at ICAO, will cover more than 90 percent of worldwide
air traffic, the EU said in the statement. Emissions from
international aviation account now for 2 percent to 3 percent of
global greenhouse gas discharges and their share is expected to
rise in the coming decades as the industry grows, according to
the EU.
EU Carbon Market
Participants of the meeting "refrained from language which
would make the application of the EU's ETS to their airlines
dependent on the mutual agreement of other states," the EU said
in the statement. "It was this requirement that led to a
stalemate at the last ICAO assembly in 2007."
The EU carbon market, started in 2005, is the world's
largest. It covers about 12,000 installations that produce
energy or goods ranging from paper to cement. Emitters must have
an allowance for each ton of carbon dioxide they let off. Those
producing more than their allowance have to buy more; those that
emit less can sell their surplus.
The bloc is on track to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by
20 percent this decade from 1990s levels and said it's ready to
deepen the target to 30 percent if other countries follow suit.
The next round of international talks on climate are due to
start toward the end of November in Cancun, Mexico.
For Related News and Information:
Emission market news: NI ENVMARKET <GO>
Today's top energy stories: ETOP <GO>
Top transport articles: TOP TRN <GO>
--Editors: James M. Gomez
To contact the reporter on this story:
Ewa Krukowska in Brussels at +32-2-237-4331 or
ekrukowska@bloomberg.net
Jonathan Stearns in Brussels at +32-2-285-4300
or jstearns2@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Stephen Voss at +44-20-7073-3520 or
sev@bloomberg.net
James Hertling at +33-1-5365-5075 or jhertling@bloomberg.net
