Economy
Aviation industry presents voluntary emissions cut plan
By Si Tingting (China Daily)
Updated: 2009-12-10 07:42
COPENHAGEN: The world aviation industry yesterday announced a long-term goal to cut carbon dioxide emissions to half the 2005 levels by 2050, becoming the first industry to articulate a reduction goal at the Copenhagen climate change conference.
The agreement, reached between 230 airlines in the International Air Transport Association (IATA), aircraft manufacturers, air traffic control providers and airports, sets a series of targets for the industry:
* Improve fuel efficiency on average by 1.5 percent per year until 2020;
* Stabilize emissions with carbon-neutral growth from 2020;
* Cut emissions in half by 2050, compared to 2005 levels.
Under this plan, net carbon dioxide emissions from aviation would peak between now and 2020 and would stabilize and then decline after that, despite increases in traffic growth.
However, final decisions on how to achieve the ambitious goal will be made in September 2010.
"We're the only industry coming to Copenhagen with a clear and ambitious reduction goal," said Giovanni Bisignani, director general and CEO of IATA.
The proposal would increase airfares and could prompt a race for green technologies among aircraft makers, which are pinning high hopes on new technologies for reducing emissions. The development of sustainable alternative jet fuels, such as those generated from algae, could help reduce emissions by 80 percent, said Bisignani. Other technologies, such as improving aircraft efficiency with lightweight materials and new engine designs, could all result in further cuts.
In addition, the industry will need to engage in economic measures to create successful incentive for airlines to reduce emissions, such as emission trading. "Airlines must be fully accountable for their emissions as an industrial sector, not by state or region," Bisignani said, adding free riders are not welcomed.
Aviation executives are trying to ensure that the industry is not stripped of its exemption from the Kyoto Protocol in Copenhagen. Despite the fact that the major airlines are trying to cut emissions from air travel, executives fear a failure in the international effort to agree a global deal on emissions trading, arguing that it could hurt the industry by way of increased taxes and regulation.
The last time global targets were agreed for reducing greenhouse gases was at the 1997 conference in Kyoto, but the airline industry was not included. In the years since, scientific evidence has supported growing concerns that carbon emissions caused by flying are a real problem. Airlines are responsible for 2 to 3 per cent of carbon emissions globally.
(China Daily 12/10/2009 page10)
