17 NGOs write to European Commission to get them to push for inclusion of aviation and shipping in Paris agreement

Date added: 10 October, 2015

In response to the announcement that the carbon emissions international aviation and shipping are to be left off the draft Paris agreement, 17 European NGOs and environmental networks have written to the Arias Cañete (Commissioner for Climate Action and Energy in the European Commission) and EU-28 Climate Ministers. They say the omission of these two large sectors, with their combined huge carbon emissions, would – if sustained – greatly undermine efforts to limit a global temperature increase to 1.5/2 degrees. Aviation is responsible for 5% of global warming with shipping emitting 3% of global CO2, and their carbon emissions are set to grow by up to 250% by 2050. The group of 17 say they represent millions of concerned European citizens. They ask that the Commission ensures these two sectors are covered by the Paris Agreement, so that they make a fair contribution to the world’s shared objective of a sustainable, low-carbon future. The letter states: “What the world needs from Paris is an agreement which charts our path to a low-carbon future. What we must not get is an agreement which says ambition for some, exemptions for others. Paris cannot mean these sectors are fuel-tax and now emissions-target free.”

Please write to your MP to ask them to put pressure on the European Commission to get aviation and shipping put back into the agreement. Details below.
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European NGOs

9 October 2015

Re: Omission of international aviation and shipping emissions from draft Paris agreement

Dear EU Ministers for Climate Change and Commissioner Arias Cañete,

European citizens are dismayed to see that the draft Paris agreement published this week has dropped any reference to reducing emissions from international aviation and shipping. CO2 emissions from these sectors exceed those of the UK and Germany combined, and are expected to treble by 2050 unless immediate measures are introduced. Yet from the draft it would seem as if these sectors don’t even exist. The aim of the UNFCCC process is to craft a climate agreement that limits a global temperature increase to 1.5/2 degrees Celsius. Excluding any requirement for international aviation and shipping to contribute their fair share to this effort will fatally undermine that objective.

18 years on, the Kyoto Protocol strictures on these sectors have clearly failed. Even the IMO Secretary-General now feels able to deny publicly any need whatsoever to cap shipping emissions. ICAO promises ambition but is clearly struggling to even see through the limited measure it committed to in 2013. The absence of any mention of aviation and shipping at Paris will not only place no obligation on either sector to contribute to meeting the 1.5/2 degree target but represent a retreat from even the limited language contained in the Kyoto Protocol. Such an outcome would represent a complete failure of international climate governance.

December’s agreement must send a clear signal to all actors that more ambition is required if we are to avoid a catastrophic increase in temperature. As the draft agreement states, there is “a need for universal and sustained action by all to respond to the urgent threat of climate change”.

Europe has played a leading role in establishing an ambitious vision for the Paris process including clearly stating the need for action by aviation and shipping. We call on European Ministers to act immediately with other states to ensure that the language in previous drafts on aviation and shipping emissions is reinstated. Paris must contain an explicit requirement for ICAO and IMO to establish reduction targets and adopt sectoral measures that contribute fairly to limiting a temperature increase to 1.5/2 degrees. Parties are already subject to such a requirement and many of them, regardless of capacity, are coming forward with increasingly ambitious targets and measures of their own. These efforts must not be undermined by special privileges to sectors that are well able to make a fair and adequate contribution.

What the world needs from Paris is an agreement which charts our path to a low-carbon future. What we must not get is an agreement which says ambition for some, exemptions for others. Paris cannot mean these sectors are fuel-tax and now emissions-target free.

For the NGOs,

Bill Hemmings, Aviation and Shipping Manager, Transport & Environment

On behalf of:

Air Pollution & Climate Secretariat;

Association 2Clesius;

Aviation Environment Federation;

Carbon Market Watch;

Climate Action Network Europe;

Environmental Pillar (Ireland);

Fédération InterEnvironnement Wallonie;

Germanwatch; Green Budget Europe;

Naturschutzbund Deutschland;

Oxfam;

Réseau Action Climat France;

Seas At Risk;

Surfrider Foundation Europe;

Transport & Environment;

Verkehrsclub Österreich;

World Wide Fund for Nature Europe..

Take action !

Please write to your MP to ask them to get text including international aviation and shipping put back into the draft Paris Agreement

Seventeen European NGOs and environmental networks have written to Arias Cañete(European Commissioner for Climate Action and Energy) in response to the announcement that the text calling for more ambition in limiting carbon emissions from international aviation and shipping has been dropped from the draft Paris Agreement on curbing global climate impacts.

The NGOs say the omission of these two large sectors, with their combined huge carbon emissions, would – if sustained – greatly undermine efforts to limit a global temperature increase to 1.5 to 2 degrees C. They are asking the European Commission to ensure that these two sectors are covered by the Paris Agreement, so that they make a fair contribution to the world’s shared objective of a sustainable, low-carbon future.

Please write to (or email) your MP to ask them to put pressure on the government to get international aviation and shipping carbon emissions included properly in the Paris Agreement. A short letter of a few sentences is enough!

And ask your MP to pass your letter on to Secretary of State at DECC (the Department for Energy and Climate Change) to get a response from the Rt Hon Amber Rudd.

You can locate your MP’s contact details here This needs to be done soon!

Aviation is responsible for 5% of global warming with shipping emitting 3% of global CO2, and their carbon emissions are set to grow by up to 250% by 2050. The group of 17 say they represent millions of concerned European citizens. The NGO’s letter, which was also sent to the 28 EU Climate Ministers, says these two sectors should not get exemptions not available to other sectors. As is the case for other sectors, they should have targets for their carbon emissions.

More details and to see the NGO letter – above.

Paris could leave aviation and shipping fuel tax-free and climate target-free

October 6, 2015

The international aviation and shipping sectors are set to be exempt from targeted CO2 emissions cuts in the December Paris climate agreement, according to the latest draft deal. The final deal needs to be agreed in the coming weeks. The draft deal removes previous calls for aviation and shipping CO2 reduction targets, with neither sector covered by national targets. Environmental NGOs say this is an irresponsible U-turn. Aviation is responsible for 5% of global warming with shipping emitting 3% of global CO2, and their carbon emissions are set to grow by up to 250% by 2050, making attempts to limit global warming to 2°C all but impossible. The IMO has said an overall cap on shipping emissions “would inhibit world trade.” Proposals from the least developed countries, that shipping and aviation should contribute to climate finance were also dropped in the draft, despite strong calls for them from the IMF and World Bank.Though the climate impact of global aviation is about the same as that of Germany, the sector has tax-free fuel and it is now to have target-free emissions. Bill Hemmings, of T&E said: “It’s a betrayal of future generations and a sad reflection on the way the UN has become beholden to special interests. Paris needs to think again and quickly.”

Click here to view full story…

Road to Paris: A climate deal must include aviation and shipping

In the century or so since the first commercial flight, aviation emissions have grown to account for about 5% of global warming. CO2 from shipping is about 3% of the global total. These sectors combined are equivalent to the sixth largest emitter if compared with world nations. Both sectors are among the fastest growing sources of emissions at a global level. Only domestic aviation and shipping (bunker) emissions were included in the Kyoto climate targets, set in 1997. To date, only the EU has subject its domestic and intra EU aviation emissions to a reduction target under the EU ETS. No measures are in place anywhere to limit or reduce international shipping GHG emissions.

Paragraph 2.2 of the 1997 Kyoto Protocol handed responsibility to limit and reduce international aviation and shipping emissions to the UN specialised agencies responsible for regulating these sectors – the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) and the International Maritime Organization (IMO). In the 18 years since then, ICAO has failed to implement one single measure to limit international aviation emissions but managed to agree to rule out fuel taxation and undermine the EU’s emissions trading scheme. The jury is out on ongoing ICAO work to develop a CO2 standard from new aircraft and to agree a global market-based measure intended to commence in 2020. In the meantime aviation emissions continue to grow at 2-3% p.a. Read more in our ‘Free Guide to ICAO’.

The IMO did agree a design efficiency standard for new ships which took effect in 2013 but it will take a generation to affect the global fleet and its stringency and effectiveness are under question. Negotiations at the IMO about tracking ship fuel consumption continue while consideration of a global cap was pushed aside as recently as May 2015. Under current policies, the Third IMO GHG study forecasts shipping CO2 emissions to increase by 50% to 250% by 2050, which would then represent between 6%-14% of total global emissions. A similar scenario exists for aviation. Both Organisations have fallen way short of delivering meaningful measures to reduce emissions from these sectors, consistent with the 1.5/2 degrees objective.

Why do we need action from the Paris COP?

The upcoming Paris COP’s goal is to achieve a legally binding and comprehensive agreement to combat climate change (UNFCCC), and to keep the increase in global temperature below 1.5/2 degrees. At the Copenhagen COP in 2009, all countries – developed and developing – agreed that climate change is one of the greatest challenges of our time, and that the international community should implement measures to at least keep the increase of temperature below 2 degrees compared to preindustrial levels (Copenhagen Accord, 2009). However, this level of warming still represents a threat for many low-lying nations, so aiming to keep a temperature increase to at or under 1.5 degrees is considered a key target for other parties (Cancun Agreements, 2010; AOSIS, 2014).

To achieve these goals an imminent peak in GHG emissions is required followed by sustained emissions reductions (UNEP, 2010). This means that all sectors of the global economy must reduce their GHG emissions by 40-70% compared to 2010 levels. However, if no action is taken in the aviation and shipping sectors, these “bunker” emissions are expected to increase by between 50% and 270% by 2050.

The below graph shows the range of expected increase in GHG emissions in the shipping sector up until 2050 if no action is taken, as projected by the Third IMO GHG Study (2014).

To achieve the 2 or 1.5 degree scenario, international shipping emissions must peak in 2020 and then start to decline sharply (see below graph).

For aviation, the trajectory for emissions growth is equally stark. According to ICAO, all scenarios will see aviation emissions grow sharply to 2050 and beyond, again endangering achievement of the 2 degrees target.

What must the Paris agreement commit to?

Emission reduction targets for international aviation and shipping need to be urgently agreed so that these sectors can begin to contribute to the objective of avoiding a temperature increase of more than 2/1.5 degrees. T&E therefore calls for countries participating in the UN climate negotiations (UNFCCC) to include domestic shipping and aviation within their emission reduction plans (Intended National Determined Contributions – INDCs) which together form the global reduction effort. Countries should also insist that ICAO and IMO set realistic reduction targets consistent with 1.5/2 degrees and adopt measures to implement them. ICAO and IMO have essential expertise in their respective sectors, but they must have a clearly defined role in the global climate agreement and they must take full responsibility for setting credible targets and introducing effective measures to achieve such targets.

http://www.transportenvironment.org/road-paris-climate-deal-must-include-aviation-and-shipping

MEPs call for reduction target on aviation and shipping emissions in Paris deal

Brussels, 14 October 2015 – statement for immediate release

Statement from Transport & Environment following European Parliament’s vote for the EU to ensure aviation and shipping emissions are included in the final Paris climate deal

Link to PR:

MEPs today called on the EU and all other countries at this year’s Paris climate summit to ensure a requirement is included for reducing emissions from international aviation and shipping. Parliamentarians called for emissions reduction targets for both sectors to be set before the end of 2016 by the corresponding UN agencies, the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) and the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO).

Echoing comments earlier this week from the OECD’s International Transport Forum that it would be odd for countries to have to adhere to emissions reduction targets but not the international shipping sector, the Parliament’s plenary voted for parties to the Paris deal to ensure that aviation and shipping is regulated consistent with keeping the increase in global warming below 2°C and thus avoiding the most disastrous effects of climate change.

Sotiris Raptis, shipping policy officer at Transport & Environment, said: “The Parliament has sent a clear message to the EU and all negotiators at Paris; the aviation and shipping sectors need emissions reduction targets too, so there is no reasonable excuse to continue exempting them. You just can’t have a global deal to combat climate change without capping the growing emissions from international aviation and shipping, which have CO2 emissions equal to those of the UK and Germany respectively.”

Aviation accounts for about 5% of global warming. Net emissions continue to grow 2-3% a year. CO2 from shipping is about 3% of the global total. Both sectors are among the fastest growing sources of emissions at a global level.

ENDS

For more information, contact:

Sotiris Raptis

Shipping policy officer

Transport & Environment (T&E)

sotiris.raptis@transportenvironment.org

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