Eco-Aviation Channel

Airline coalition wants emissions trading on a global basis

By Brian Straus
Eco-Aviation Today, March 10, 2009, p.2

Air France KLM, British Airways, Cathay Pacific Airways, Virgin Atlantic Airways and UK airports operator BAA last month announced the formation of the Aviation Global Deal Group, which expressed its support for inclusion of CO2 emissions in a "new global climate deal" scheduled to be discussed at December's UN climate summit in Copenhagen.

Meeting in Hong Kong on Feb. 12, AGD argued for a "fair and effective global policy solution" on aviation emissions, which were not included in the 1997 Kyoto Protocol and are not managed under any current global agreement. ICAO, which the group supports, is working on its own cap-and-trade plan while the EU is including aviation in its ETS from 2012

Cathay Pacific Airways CEO Tony Tyler said, "Aviation has a key part to play in reducing global emissions and for too long has been seen as part of the climate problem rather than part of the solution."

The four airlines and BAA said any global emissions policy must "offer genuine environmental benefits . . . be operationally and economically sound . . . maintain competitiveness between airlines and avoid market distortions . . . [and] balance the social and economic benefits of flying with the industry's responsibility to cut global emissions."

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