Flight International - June 30, 2015 UK

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ENVIRONMENT

30 | Flight International | 30 June-6 July 2015

KERRY REALS LONDON

The aviation industry has a goal of carbon-neutral

growth by 2020. Will a global market-based measure

on emissions be agreed in time to meet the target?

EMISSION

STATEMENT

Widespread use of sustainable fuels will be needed to meet aviation’s environmental objectives

Rex Features

E

ducation, education, education. These

three priorities, famously set out by

former UK prime minister Tony Blair

in the 1997 election campaign, could

equally be applied to the ongoing campaign to

convince the world to agree on a global mar-

ket-based measure (MBM) to address aviation

emissions.

The jury is still out, however, on whether

the numerous seminars, webinars and infor-

mation-sharing sessions taking place across

the globe to educate states about the impor-

tance of such a measure will lead to the level

of consensus needed to agree a proposal

ahead of the autumn 2016 deadline.

At the last triennial ICAO Assembly in Sep-

tember 2013, member states agreed to report

back at the next Assembly in September 2016

with a proposal for a global MBM scheme for

international aviation that could be imple-

mented by 2020. Since then, tense negotia-

tions have been taking place as countries in

differing stages of development attempt to

find a method of curbing emissions that is

deemed fair by all.

ICAO announced in April that it had con-

cluded its first round of global aviation dia-

logues (GLADs) on MBMs. These two-day

sessions, says the UN body, were designed “to

share information on MBMs and their poten-

tial role in mitigating [carbon dioxide] emis-

sions from international aviation, update

ICAO’s progress on the development of its

global MBM scheme, and provide an impor-

tant opportunity for feedback and discussion

among member states and relevant organisa-

tions”.

DEFINED SHAPE

Five two-day GLADs were conducted in April,

taking place in Cairo, Lima, Madrid, Nairobi

and Singapore, and reaching 350 participants

from 79 countries. A second round of GLADs

is scheduled for next spring, by which point it

is hoped the MBM proposal will have started

to take on a more defined shape.

“The structure and format of the GLADs

was designed to inform and engage non-

[ICAO] Council states on the basics of MBMs

to complement the basket of emissions miti-

gation measures ICAO is already pursuing,”

said ICAO Council president Olumuyiwa Be-

nard Aliu on announcing the completion of

the first round of GLADs.

ICAO says the highlights of its MBM dia-

logue sessions included “the simplicity and

cost-effectiveness of a global scheme, the need

for differentiation, and the goal of avoiding

excessive cost or administrative burdens”.

“Perhaps most importantly for us, the states

who attended these first GLADs discussions

left looking forward to the second round,

when a concrete proposal for a global MBM

scheme is expected to be on the table,” says

Daniel Azema, ICAO’s head of cabinet.

“States and other international organisations

are very eager for more information on how

our sector can improve its environmental

footprint, and ICAO is just as eager to provide

it to them.”

ICAO is also planning to host a seminar at

its Montreal headquarters in September, enti-

tled Global Aviation Partnerships on Emis-

sions Reductions.

Alongside the educational sessions con-

ducted by ICAO, the airline industry will be

putting forth its own efforts to preach the ben-

efits of adopting a global measure, as opposed

to a patchwork of regional schemes. At the

The long-term goal is to cut carbon dioxide

emissions to half of 2005 levels by 2050