NEW YORK (Alliance News) - UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon on Tuesday welcomed a proposal to limit carbon emissions by airlines after the UN's aviation agency put forward a recommendation to set binding global standards for the first time.
The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) announced Monday that its 170-member committee had agreed on a proposal to impose global carbon emission limits on airlines that would require all new airliners to comply by 2028.
The proposal will need to be adopted by the agency's 36-state governing council for the limits to go into force.
"The goal of this process is ultimately to ensure that when the next generation of aircraft types enter service, there will be guaranteed reductions in international CO2 emissions," ICAO council head Olumuyiwa Benard Aliu said.
Currently, emissions from airplanes account for 2% of global carbon emissions. However, the number of global airline passengers is expected to double by 2030.
ICAO said the new standards would have the biggest impact on larger aircraft weighing over 60 tonnes, which currently account for more than 90% of emissions. The agency noted that these airplanes have the largest range of technologies available to them to reduce emissions.
Ban commended the proposal noting that it built on the momentum of the Paris climate change agreement passed in December, said Stephane Dujarric, Ban's spokesman.
"The secretary general commends this first step to reduce carbon emissions from air travel and calls for further strengthening of emissions standards as quickly as possible, in line with the scientific imperative for action," Dujarric said.
Copyright dpa