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Airlines Push for Global Measures to Control Carbon Emissions
By CHRISTOPHER F. SCHUETZE Fabrice Coffrini/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images Geneva International Airport. Airline travel is thought to cause 2 percent to 3 percent of the world’s carbon emissions. Last week, airlines called on the aviation authorities to find a way to curb emissions after 2020.Despite the unpopularity of a European aviation carbon emission tax, the world’s airlines are ready to discuss global measures. The announcement , which calls on the International Civil Aviation Organization, the civilian sky’s U.N. regulating body, to adopt an across-the-board, market-based mechanism to offset emissions, was made during the International Air Transport Association’s 69 th annual meeting, in Cape Town. “We can give them a direction we want them to go,” said Tony Tyler, the head of the association, about the recommendations to the governing body in a video statement . The International Civil Aviation Organization hopes to steer governments away from a patchwork of national rules and toward a single, global, market-based mechanism. “Such a patchwork would be an administrative nightmare,” said Paul Steele, the association’s environmental director at a news conference . The industry group represents 240 of the world’s airlines, which operate 84 percent of all civilian flights. The association has called for environmental standards before, but this is the first time it has called for comprehensive binding regulations. Since 2010, the association has been in favor of a 1.5 percent annual increase in fuel efficiency from 2010 to 2020, with carbon neutral growth by 2020. By 2050, the association wants net emissions cut by 50 percent from 2005 levels. As Rendezvous reported last year , Europe and the rest of the world have been in disagreement over whether foreign carriers should take part in the European Emission Trading System when landing at European destinations. A European Union rule, in place since last year, would have taxed carbon emissions on flights terminating or originating in Europe, even for non-European airlines. Last summer, a group of non-European nations met in Washington to condemn such taxation. Then President Barack Obama disappointed environmentalists when he signed a bill into law that actually prohibits United States airlines from paying the tax when landing in Europe, in contravention of international law. Earlier this year, the European Union announced a “stopping of the clock” in its demand for non-European carriers to participate in its emission trading program. At the time, Connie Hedegaard, the E.U. commissioner for climate action, described the move as allowing the rest of world to catch up. The air association’s most recent announcement was welcomed in Brussels. “It is a very strong message that the airline industry seems ready to support a single global market-based measure to keep their emissions in check,” Ms. Hedegaard said in a statement sent to reporters last week. “The E.U. is ready,” she said. Airline travel is thought to cause 2 percent to 3 percent of the world’s carbon emissions. According to a National Geographic report , an average passenger airplane burns four liters, or a little more than a gallon, of jet fuel for each kilometer each a passenger flies. This number is already a 40 percent improvement over jet fuel efficiency in 2000. Though the number of flights may still be climbing (Rendezvous reported last year on the one billionth international arrival in 2012), new planes are becoming increasingly fuel-efficient. “This is a responsible industry. We are the only industry in the world that has set itself clear targets in terms of emission standards,” said Mr. Tyler, according to the video statement. Continue reading
Greenhouse Gas Emissions at All-Time High in 2012: IEA
Posted: June 10, 2013 The International Energy Agency (IEA) released a special report on energy use and climate change today, warning that the global goal of limiting the temperature increase to 2º Celsius is likely to fall short of achievement. Global energy-related carbon dioxide emissions rose 1.4% in 2012 to a record high 31.6 billion metric tons. The IEA reports that it a temperature increase of 3.6º to 5.3º Celsius is the probable long-term average temperature increase. The 2º Celsius target “still remains technically feasible, through extremely challenging,” and the agency says that “intensive action” is required before 2020 if the globe is to have a chance of meeting that target. The current IEA estimate calls for greenhouse gas emissions in 2020 of about 4 billion metric tons above the level required to meet the 2º Celsius goal. The largest contributor to the 2012 increase in global carbon dioxide emissions was China, even though the country’s growth in emissions was among the lowest in the past decade. In the United States, emissions fell by 200 million metric tons, about equal to emissions in the mid-1990s. China’s decline in emissions growth is the result of more deployment of renewable energy sources and a higher energy intensity in its economy. “Energy intensity” is a calculation of an economy’s units of energy consumed per unit of GDP. The drop in U.S. emissions is the result of fuel-switching from coal to natural gas in the generation of electricity. To cut emissions enough to meet the 2020 target, the IEA presents its “4-for-2º Scenario,” which includes four goals: Adopt specific energy efficiency measures to save 49% of emissions; Limit construction and use of least-efficient coal-fired power plants to save 21% of emissions; Minimize methane emissions from oil and gas production to save 18% of emissions; and Accelerate phase-out of subsidies to fossil-fuel consumption to save 21% of emissions. The IEA’s report, Redrawing the Energy-Climate Map, says that global subsidies to fossil-fuel production totaled $523 billion in 2011, about six times the amount for renewables subsidies. The agency also notes that 15% of global carbon dioxide emissions receive a subsidy of $110 per metric ton, while just 8% are subject to a carbon price. Various carbon pricing mechanisms have failed to live up to hopes because the global economy has been so weak over the past several years. The IEA notes the result: The weight of scientific analysis tells us that our climate is already changing and that we should expect extreme weather events (such as storms, floods and heat waves) to become more frequent and intense, as well as increasing global temperatures and rising sea levels. In a particularly glaring bit of hopefulness, the IEA estimates that net revenues for nuclear and renewable generation would rise by $1.8 trillion through 2035 while fossil-fuel generation will decline by an equal amount. To reach that goal, the agency expects that about 30% of new fossil fuel plants would be equipped with carbon capture and storage (CCS) technology. The catch is that there is no cheap or easy way to implement CCS, and that goal almost certainly cannot be met. It is easy to quibble with many of the IEA’s conclusions and estimates, and there is sure to be plenty of quibbling in the days ahead. But the value of the IEA’s estimates is that they put a stake in the ground and offer at least a starting discussion point for mitigating carbon emissions. Paul Ausick Read more: Greenhouse Gas Emissions at All-Time High in 2012: IEA – 24/7 Wall St. http://247wallst.com/2013/06/10/greenhouse-gas-emissions-at-all-time-high-in-2012-iea/#ixzz2VtNZJP6P Continue reading
Airline Industry Carbon Proposal May Help Save U.N. Deal
By Valerie Volcovici WASHINGTON | Mon Jun 3, 2013 7:19pm EDT (Reuters) – A proposal agreed to this week by major airlines could rescue U.N. efforts for a deal to cut greenhouse gas emissions in the aviation sector, but the industry still needs to lean on governments for the plan to move ahead, industry observers said. Following its annual meeting in South Africa on Monday, the International Air Transport Association (IATA) said it will ask governments to create a system through which airlines would offset any increase in emissions after 2020 by buying carbon credits from projects that reduce emissions in other sectors. The proposal is meant to give governments that are parties to the United Nations ‘ International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) a blueprint for a global agreement. It is also a move to prevent the European Union from applying a law that would force airlines to pay for each ton of carbon dioxide they emit on flights to and from EU airports through Europe’s emissions-trading scheme. Implementation of the law was postponed in 2012 after a global outcry. Under IATA’s proposed offsetting system, either air carriers or countries would have to purchase credits to cover each ton of carbon emitted over a set baseline. “The worldwide airline industry sent a strong message that it is moving forward with its commitments and has offered governments a proposed way forward,” said Nancy Young, vice president for environmental affairs for the lobby group Airlines for America, whose members also belong to IATA. The airlines who agreed to the proposal represent about 85 percent of global commercial air traffic. Some environmentalists doubted that governments will be ready to ink a deal in time for ICAO’s triennial general assembly in Montreal, which runs from September 24 to October 4. “The question is whether it’s just a resolution or will IATA now put their undoubted muscle behind wavering governments, starting with the United States,” said Bill Hemmings, aviation manager at Brussels-based group Transport and Environment. Officials from 17 countries tapped to work on the global agreement have been bogged down by issues such as whether states or airlines would be pay for emissions, and whether less-developed countries should have different goals. Annie Petsonk, international council for the Environmental Defense Fund, said her organization does not support all elements of the IATA resolution but the plan sends a strong signal to feet-dragging governments. “We may not agree with every ingredient to bake into this cake but we agree that it’s time to bake the cake,” she said. “The fact that the industry is saying ‘this can be done this September’ … really puts the spotlight on whether governments will get into the kitchen and get it done.” Some green groups totally rejected IATA’s approach, arguing that it will not lead to real emission reductions. “Only a cap-and-trade scheme with a stringent cap and a limit on the use of offsets will create sufficient incentives for essential emission reductions,” said Eva Filzmoser, director of Carbon Market Watch, a watchdog group. (Reporting by Valerie Volcovici; editing by Andrew Hay) Continue reading
