IATA claims progress in implementing global emissions approach

IATA DG and CEO Giovanni Bisignani does not expect the EU Emissions Trading Scheme to start in 2012 as scheduled owing to legal challenges concerning its unilateral implementation.

"I am convinced it will not happen," he told ATWOnline at the industry body's Global Press Day in Geneva. "You will see that many governments will legally challenge the unilateral approach of EU ETS in the coming years," he said, adding that he anticipates filings from the US, Japan, China and others.

Bisignani maintained that the European Commission knows "exactly" that aviation's inclusion in its ETS is "simply illegal" and in contravention of the Chicago Convention. "That is why they have included the provision in the regulation that they will not implement it if a global emissions scheme is established." He believes the EC included aviation to draw attention to the environment. "It probably worked," he admitted.

Speaking via satellite from the UN Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen, IATA Director-Aviation Environment Paul Steele told reporters in Geneva that IATA has managed to win recognition for its approach to emissions. "We still have a way to go and negotiations continue for another couple of days, but right now I have the feeling that we've won a huge amount of support here for our position, which includes a mandate to ICAO to develop a global framework for aviation by COP 16 in December 2010, the acceptance of a global sectoral approach and a positive approach to economic measures," such as investment incentives and research funding.

The aviation industry is the only industry that presented a sector-wide, united agenda with clear targets and proposals to reduce carbon emissions, both Steele and Bisignani stressed. IATA's targets, accepted at its annual general meeting in June and adopted by the industry, include carbon-neutral growth from 2020 (ATWOnline, Oct. 12).