Top airlines want aviation emission in climate pact

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SINGAPORE: Four leading airlines called on Thursday for aviation
emissions to be included in a broader climate pact, after growing
criticism from
green groups that the sector was not doing enough to fight global
warming.

The move is the first step by the world's airlines, which account for
around two percent of global pollution, to steer the debate on an
emissions pact towards a deal they are happy with, rather than having
one imposed on them.

Air France/KLM, British Airways, Cathay Pacific, Virgin Atlantic and
airport operator BAA issued the call in Hong Kong and outlined a
series of principles a new global deal for aviation must adhere to.

Conservation groups such as WWF say aviation has not been doing enough
to tackle the sector's growing share of greenhouse gas pollution and
must pay for its emissions like many other industries.

Emissions from international aviation comprise about two percent of
mankind's total carbon dioxide (CO2) pollution from burning fossil
fuels and deforestation and are expected to keep rising as economies
and populations grow.

Green groups and governments say airlines should be part of emissions
trading schemes as a start. "This is the first time a group of
airlines has got together to call for aviation to be included in a
climate change treaty," Dominic Purvis of Cathay Pacific said.

"We're contributing to climate change and we need to play our part,"
said Purvis, the airline's general manager for environmental affairs.
Nations meet at the end of the year in the Danish capital Copenhagen
to try to agree on a broader climate pact that replaces the Kyoto
Protocol, the United Nations' main weapon to fight global warming.

Kyoto's first phase ends in 2012. The idea is to find a way for
developing nations to sign up to emissions curbs and to include
aviation and shipping, which together make up 5 percent of mankind's
CO2 emissions, a fifth of which come from US emissions of 6 billion
tonnes a year.

The United Nations' International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO)
has been working for more than a decade to develop a global scheme to
tackle aviation emissions. Purvis said the four airlines would discuss
existing proposals to curb emissions and feed the group's ideas to
ICAO and other airlines to try to settle on a fair and environmentally
sound approach for inclusion at Copenhagen.

"The best thing is to have something effective and easy to apply and
cost-effective rather than to wait for someone else to come up with it
and potentially take a course of action not necessarily appropriate
for aviation," he said.

The four airlines and BAA are meeting in Hong Kong and in their
communique laid out principles for a global approach that included
balancing social and economic benefits of flying with the industry's
responsibility to cut global emissions.

The airlines also said a new global climate deal for aviation must
preserve competitiveness and avoid market distortions. Many airlines
say only a global approach is fair and criticize the European Union's
decision to include aviation in the bloc's emissions trading scheme
from 2012. Airlines will have to pay for their emissions over the
entire route, not just within EU airspace, a rule many Asian airlines
flying long-haul routes to Europe say is unfair.