Eco-Aviation Channel

EC official supports ICAO work on climate change

By Geoffrey Thomas
Eco-Aviation Today, July 10, 2009, p.2

European Commission Director-Air Transport Daniel Calleja defended ICAO against those who suggest that it has failed to deliver on a plan to reduce aviation emissions (Eco-Aviation Today, 6/09). Speaking at last month's Paris Air Show, he claimed that although there have been difficulties, the recent report by ICAO's Group on International Aviation and Climate Change is a "workable framework for which ICAO should be given a mandate post-Copenhagen to develop a global agreement."

Calleja said the EC does not share the view that GIACC has not been ambitious and that ICAO has failed. "We do not agree. It is true there are difficulties as there are 190 countries and developing countries have a different position to developed states, but we think there is a framework on which we can work."

He added that the EU Emissions Trading Scheme, "the most cost-effective market-based instrument," was what prompted movement in ICAO. He also claimed that the EU is ready to "adapt" its ETS to a global situation. "We don't want overlapping systems; we want a global system, which is why we have included this in our directive."

Calleja noted that the EU is making good progress with Australia and New Zealand because they have similar systems under negotiation, while the US is moving in the same direction. On the Copenhagen climate summit, he said the EU position is for "ambitious targets for aviation" but with a mandate for ICAO to develop a global framework. "The process must be done through ICAO to avoid distortions," he said.

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