EU Ambassador Calls On Aviation Industry To Reduce Emissions Through Cap-And-Trade

Ambassador John Bruton, who heads the European Commission’s Delegation to the United States, today explained why including aviation activities in the EU’s Emissions Trading System is vital to combating climate change.

“The European Commission recently proposed expanding the EU’s cap-and-trade emissions system to include air travel. This proposal fills the urgent need for better and more rigorous management of aviation emissions, which are growing exponentially.

“When the original European cap-and-trade system was introduced in 2005, it excluded aviation, thanks to a 1997 agreement to manage aviation emissions through the International Civil Aviation Organization. Unfortunately, this agreement has failed to deliver the solid results and concrete action that the situation now requires.

“Although skeptics point out that the aviation sector currently only accounts for about three percent of global greenhouse gas emissions each year, this is approximately the same percentage as the steel industry and oil refining industry, both of which are regulated under the EU’s cap-and-trade system.

“Additionally, emissions from aviation are increasing more quickly than emissions from other industries, and more people than ever are taking to the skies. The number of international leisure travelers – the majority of whom go by air – is expected to nearly double from 842 million in 2006 to 1.6 billion in 2020, and a recent report produced by the U.S. Department of Transportation, Eurocontrol, Manchester Metropolitan University and technology company QinetiQ finds that airlines are emitting 20 percent more carbon dioxide than previously estimated – an amount that could reach 1.5 billion tons a year by 2025.

“If the sheer quantity of greenhouse gases being emitted is not enough, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has concluded that emissions from airplanes have between two and four times as great an impact on the climate as emissions at ground level, due to the warming effect of emissions at high altitudes.

“We must take action – we must take it soon – and we must take it in cooperation with our partners in the U.S. and around the world. Two-thirds of EU aviation emissions come from intercontinental flights, so if we hope to make a significant impact, we must include international flights in the cap-and-trade system.

“The EU and the U.S. currently collaborate on issues ranging from improving the energy efficiency of aircraft to managing air traffic in a way that minimizes the time planes spend circling airports – but these measures reduce emissions two percent a year, at most. Meanwhile, air traffic is increasing by about five percent annually, resulting in a net increase in emissions of between 3 percent and 4 percent each year.

“Cap-and-trade is the most environmentally effective and cost-efficient measure we have to cut aircraft emissions. We have seen it work in the EU for carbon emissions in other sectors, in the same way we saw it work in the U.S. to curb acid rain. Now we must make it work for the aviation industry as well.”

“The EU is still hopeful for progress in ICAO and will work with countries that put emission reduction schemes for aviation in place. But we need to act now.”

For further information please see background link: http://www.consilium.europa.eu/ueDocs/cms_Data/docs/pressData/en/misc/ 99972.pdf. (Due to its length, this URL may need to be copied/pasted into your Internet browser’s address field. Remove the extra space if one exists.)

Contacts

Delegation of the European Commission to the
United States
Anthony Smallwood, 202-862-9523
Kasper Zeuthen, 202-862-9530