Climate protection congress calls for new UN agency to oversee international aviation emissions

Climate protection congress calls for new UN agency to oversee international aviation emissions | First International Scientific and Business Congress on Protecting the Climate, Terry Barker, Jeffrey Shane, Deron Lovaas
Fri 9 May 2008 – A newly formed watchdog of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) is proposing that the United Nations establish a new authority to regulate emissions from high-carbon international activities such as aviation and shipping.
 
The First International Scientific and Business Congress on Protecting the Climate – A World Joint Strategy has suggested the UNFCCC establish a World Carbon Authority to oversee a global emissions cap-and-trade scheme that would apply initially to the transport sector. They made the proposal in an open letter sent to Dr Rajendra Pachauri, Chair of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), and Björn Stigson, President of the World Business Council for Sustainable Development.
 
The authority would be in charge of regulating aviation and shipping emissions that occur beyond a member nation’s borders. UN organizations are currently crafting policies to regulate international transport emissions, which were exempt from the Kyoto Protocol.
 
But Dr Terry Barker, Chair of the Congress and co-author of the IPCC’s 2007 assessment on climate change and the Director of Cambridge University’s Centre for Climate Change Mitigation Research, said he doubts those organizations can effectively hold their respective industries accountable.
 
“A substantial portion of emissions from aviation and shipping are outside international jurisdictions: international water, international air space,” said Barker. “It’s difficult to see how they will be controlled.... I’m not convinced [current UN efforts] will be sufficient. It seems voluntary.”
 
The IPCC estimates that aviation contributes about 2% of global greenhouse gas emissions, and emissions from the sector are predicted to grow between two- and six-fold from now until 2050. Also, because aviation emissions are released higher in the atmosphere, their contribution to global warming is two to four times the rate of emissions closer to Earth, according to a European Union report, although research is inconclusive.
 
Maritime shipping releases twice as many greenhouse gases as aviation, or about 4.5% of the world’s total, a UN report has stated. More frequent shipping is likely to increase emissions 30% by 2020. However, shipping, which carries 80% of world trade, is currently claiming to be more fuel-efficient than aviation.
 
The Congress, initiated and organized by the Academy for European Management GmbH, Germany, proposed a World Carbon Authority to consolidate climate change efforts now under way at the two UN agencies, the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) and the International Maritime Organization (IMO). Both organizations are drafting independent plans to address greenhouse gas emissions. But Barker accused them of being “captured by industry”.
 
Jeffrey Shane, former Undersecretary for policy at the US Department of Transportation, said that although neither organization has passed a binding policy to reduce emissions, their members have indicated a new willingness to address climate change. “The industry is beginning to get it in a way we haven’t seen in the past,” he said. “The notion industry will do everything in its power to prevent a meaningful approach to carbon reduction is not self evident.”
 
ICAO passed a resolution in September that said it would develop market-based measures to reduce emissions by the next major UNFCCC meeting, in Copenhagen in 2009. Giovanni Bisignani, Director General of the International Air Transport Association (IATA), says his industry is focused on improving fuel efficiency, finding more direct flight paths and developing bio-based fuel alternatives. The aviation industry “is not opposed to emissions trading providing that it is fair, global and effective,” he said in a speech delivered on April 22. “And the only place to achieve that is at ICAO.”
 
IMO committees have also been debating strategies to reduce emissions, but no official policy has been proposed. The marine transport agency will hold a meeting in Oslo, Norway, in June to discuss market-based greenhouse gas emissions reductions.
 
Like the Congress, environmental groups are sceptical that ICAO or IMO will reach a binding agreement on their own. “With ICAO, it’s not clear they’re moving expeditiously on this,” said Deron Lovaas, a transportation analyst for the Natural Resources Defense Council. “The proof is in the policy, and we just haven’t seen any proposed policy that ICAO and the industry will take care of it. It’s not reassuring.”
 
 
Ben Block is a staff writer with the Worldwatch Institute (www.worldwatch.org)
This article is reproduced with the kind permission of Worldwatch
 
 
First International Scientific and Business Congress on Protecting the Climate:
 
The First Congress was a start for creating a fusion between Business, Government and Science to recognize the gravity of the climate problem and provide suggestions for effective, efficient and equitable solutions.

The Congress is unique in that it searches for establishing a framework to combine the contributions of business, technology, science and government in seeking opportunities for effective policies and investment in the context of current world economic conditions.

The practical goal of the Congress is to develop a World Joint Climate Protection Strategy with subsequent recommendations. The congress is focused on the challenges and opportunities for business and government leaders to mitigate and adapt to climate change and its impact on their organizations.
 
 
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