A GROUP of airlines – including Air France and British Airways, but not Aer Lingus – has put forward a revised version of proposals to deal with international aviation emissions under a new global agreement on climate change.
The Aviation Global Deal (AGD) group’s latest offer sets out a range of emissions reduction targets for UN climate change negotiators to consider as part of a broader global deal that would cover all international flights.
At a side event during the current UN negotiating session in Bonn yesterday, the group said it favoured reaching a global deal in Copenhagen in December that “fairly and equitably addresses aviation carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions”.
It maintains that international aviation CO2 emissions should be addressed through a global sectoral agreement, rather than a patchwork of regional initiatives, in order to avoid “carbon leakage” and maintain a level playing field.
The group has put forward three scenarios – a “carbon neutral” growth target, a 5 per cent reduction and a 20 per cent reduction in emissions between now and 2020, relative to 2005 levels and based on estimated future carbon prices.
Under all scenarios, the airlines would participate in carbon trading to meet their emissions targets cost-effectively – and with a proportion of the sector’s allowances auctioned to generate revenues for climate change initiatives in developing countries.
Based on the three scenarios, auction revenues of up to $5 billion (€3.5 billion) per year could be generated to support climate change adaptation programmes and initiatives to combat tropical deforestation, a major source of carbon emissions.
Last week Virgin Blue Airlines became the first Australian airline to join AGD. Other members include Air France-KLM, British Airways, Cathay Pacific, Finnair, Qatar Airways and Virgin Atlantic.
Scandinavian Airlines (SAS) has its own carbon reduction programme.
