BRUSSELS/MONTREAL (Alliance News) - Dozens of countries agreed Friday to set up an international system to curb airline emissions, giving in to a European Union ultimatum but not granting the bloc all of the support it had hoped for.
The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) decided after 10 days of talks in Montreal that its nearly 200 member states should agree by 2016 on the system, the first of its kind.
It would then be launched in 2020, forcing airlines to account for their carbon dioxide emissions and thus serving as an incentive to limit the environmentally harmful gases.
"The devil may still be in the details, but today at least the devil has taken a vacation," ICAO Secretary General Raymond Benjamin said, calling the move a major step forward for civil aviation.
But the ICAO decision does not include initial support for regional emission-curbing systems, such as a controversial carbon tax that was instituted by the EU last year.
The Brussels-based environmental campaign group Transport & Environment predicted that this omission would make regional systems "all but impossible," slamming the ICAO resolution for being "like a Swiss cheese - full of holes."
EU sources said their scheme is here to stay despite the ICAO resolution. They argue that the ICAO decision leaves enough "grey area" for it to continue operating. The carbon tax is also expected to be softened somewhat to reflect the breakthrough at the ICAO.
"While we would have liked more countries to accept our regional scheme, progress was made overall," EU Climate Action Commissioner Connie Hedegaard said. "If it hadn't been for the EU's hard work and determination, we wouldn't have got this decision today."
"This is good news for the travelling public, good news for the aviation industry, but most importantly it is very good news for the planet," EU Transport Commissioner Siim Kallas added. "We have also avoided a damaging conflict among trading partners."
The EU's carbon tax had been ferociously opposed by countries such as the United States, China, Russia and India - spurring worries that a trade war may develop in the skies.
The EU justified the move to unilaterally force airlines landing and taking off from its airports to pay for the right to pollute by pointing to the fact that 15 years of lobbying had failed to produce a global approach.
But it agreed to partially suspend the scheme in April as an incentive to achieve a breakthrough at the ICAO talks. Currently, only flights within the EU are liable for their emissions.
Conservative EU lawmaker Peter Liese warned that he doesn't think his institution, the European Parliament, will accept to maintain that status quo until 2020.
He called for all airlines taking off and landing in the EU to be liable at least for emissions generated over the bloc's territory.
"If and how it comes to an (international) agreement in 2020 is in the stars," Liese noted.
Copyright dpa
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