ICAO Meeting Participants Agree on Aviation Emissions Trading Guidance

March 12, 2007 // Published as a news service by IHS

The recommendations of the seventh meeting of CAEP (CAEP/7), are based on the work of experts from around the world and will be reviewed by the council of ICAO.

The guidance focused on those aspects of emissions trading related to aviation-specific issues and provided preferred options for the various elements of trading systems.

Specific proposals include:

• Aircraft operators be the accountable international aviation entity for purposes of emissions trading.
• Obligations be based on total aggregated emissions from all covered flights performed by each aircraft operator included in the scheme.
• States, in applying an inclusion threshold, consider aggregate air transport activity (e.g. CO2 emissions) and/or aircraft weight as the basis for inclusion.
• States start with an emissions trading scheme that includes CO2 alone.
• States apply the Inter-governmental Panel on Climate Change definition of international and domestic emissions for the purpose of accounting for greenhouse gas emissions as applied to civil aviation.
• States will need to put in place an accounting arrangement that ensures that emissions from international aviation are counted separately and not against the specific reduction targets that states may have under the Kyoto Protocol.
• In regards to trading units, member states will need to consider economic efficiency, environmental integrity and equity and competitiveness when making a choice.

On the question of geographic scope, the guidance recommends that states take into account an ICAO Council request that CAEP include the different options to geographic scope describing their advantages and disadvantages and start to address the integration of foreign aircraft operators under a mutually agreed basis, and continue to analyze further options.

The guidance on emissions trading is part of a package of recommendations from CAEP to address aircraft engine emissions directly attributable to aviation in relation to local air quality and global climate effects, which includes the reduction of emissions by technological, operational and market-based measures.

The meeting also considered long-term technology goals for nitrogen oxides (NOx) and agreed on a proposal for guidance on aircraft emissions charges related to local air quality. States were encouraged to evaluate the costs and benefits of the various measures available to them.

CAEP/7 made a proposal to post information on voluntary emissions trading and other voluntary measures covered at the meeting on the ICAO public web site.

The meeting also produced other recommendations dealing with aircraft engine emissions and aircraft noise as well as trade-offs between these two measures.

Source: International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO).