World’s top airlines want emissions by aviation sector included in climate deal

Four top airlines of the world have requested that greenhouse-gas emissions by the aviation industry be included in a new, broader global climate pact.

Airlines Air France-KLM, British Airways, Cathay Pacific and Virgin Atlantic as well as the United Kingdom’s aviation regulator British Airports Authority (BAA), which have announced the formation of the Aviation Global Deal Group (AGD), issued the call at the group’s first meeting held in Hong Kong on February 12, 2009.

The move by the world’s four leading airlines apparently comes after increasing criticism from environmental groups like the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) that the aviation sector was not doing enough to combat the menace of global warming and that the aviation industry must pay for its emissions like several other industries.

The Aviation Global Deal Group said in a statement that the aviation industry needed a “pragmatic, fair and effective global policy solution,” ahead of the crucial United Nations climate summit to be held in Copenhagen, capital of Denmark, in December 2009. At the Copenhagen meeting, world leaders will try to negotiate a new deal on climate to succeed the Kyoto Protocol.

It has been estimated that the aviation industry currently contributes 2% of the global emissions of greenhouse gases.

In the statement, issued on behalf of the Aviation Global Deal Group, Tony Tyler, chief executive of Cathay Pacific, listed a number of principles that a new global deal for aviation must follow.

“Aviation,” Tyler explained, “has a key part to play in reducing global emissions and, for too long, the aviation sector has been seen as part of the climate problem rather than as a part of the solution.”

The four airlines of the AGD also said that the new deal on climate should balance the “social and economic benefits of flying” with the aviation industry’s responsibility to cut emissions and also play its part in meeting strict targets for climate change.

Aviation has not been included in deals signed so far to control emissions, like the Kyoto Protocol. The aviation sector was not included in the Kyoto Protocol owing to its international nature as also because of the practical difficulty in assigning emissions to a particular country.

International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO), of the United Nations, has been working for over a decade now to develop a global plan to tackle greenhouse-gas emissions by the aviation sector.

The European Union (EU) has already introduced legislation to reduce emissions from the aviation industry by including the group’s carbon cap-and-trade scheme from 2030.