US, China, and Europe Unite: Promises Support for Global Aviation Emissions Pact
The US, China and Europe promised vigorous support to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by airlines on Saturday Fortune reported.
The agreement will take final form at a meeting of the UN's International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) this month and is planned to go into effect from 2021.
Aviation was not included excluded from last December's monumental climate accord in Paris when countries agreed to limit the global average increase in temperatures to "well below" 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) above pre-industrial levels.
The proposed new agreement on aviation, which aims to limit the carbon pollution of all international flights at 2020 levels will be voluntary between 2021 and 2026 and then mandatory from 2027.
Airlines would need to limit their emissions or offset them by buying carbon credits from designated environmental projects around the world, Fortune said.
"Today, the United States and China are expressing their support for the ICAO Assembly reaching consensus on such a measure," the US and China said in a joint statement earlier on Saturday.
The statement, published ahead of a G20 summit in the Chinese coastal city of Hangzhou, said both Washington and Beijing "expect to be early participants in the measure and volunteer to join."
In a separate statement, the European Civil Aviation Conference (ECAC), a grouping of the EU and 16 other countries, announced that it would immediately join the agreement and urged all other major airline operating states to take the same steps.
Fortune opined that participation by China, which as a developing country has traditionally been opposed to any binding emissions regime for its industries, is considered crucial to any deal, and experts say they expect it to favor Chinese airlines at least in the initial phase
"It is not an issue for China to sign up for the ICAO deal, as the mitigation actions are voluntary until 2026," said Chai Qimin, a researcher with China's National Center for Climate Change Strategy and International Cooperation (NCSC).
Chai said the deal could also favor China by giving it a lower share of all emissions that must be capped starting from 2020, but its participation would still depend on whether other countries could agree on terms.
China has been concerned that attempts to force its planes to buy carbon credits would represent a violation of the "common but differentiated responsibility" principle that says developed countries should take the lead in cutting emissions.
Negotiations are expected until the ICAO meets on Sept. 27.
