Climate Change News
Below are news items on climate change – many with relevance to aviation
West Sussex study shows personal flights the largest single component of carbon footprint
West Sussex County Council have done an analysis of their carbon emissions, to understand individual emissions and help communities to change their lifestyles, consumption etc. The consumption-based carbon footprint for West Sussex residents broken down into sixteen specific segments shows that the largest single component is personal flights, at 13%. This comes higher even than food and drink (retail) at 12%. And then at 10% each are household fuel, and domestic vehicle fuel. Followed by other non food shopping at 9% and then household electricity at 7% - with other sectors at lower figures. Remarkable that the flights component is so very high. For the Lake District, the proportion of emissions from foreign flights by visitors to the Lake District was a third of the total budget—yet of the 16 million visitors a year, only 10% come from abroad".
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US and India warn Europe that row over Aviation EU ETS could derail global climate change negotiations
The US special envoy for climate change, Todd Stern, has warned that the inclusion of foreign airlines in the EU ETS could hold up global climate change talks. He said that just because progress on a global agreement over aviation emissions reductions at ICAO had proved difficult, “it did not mean the multilateral approach should be thrown away.” While US carriers continue to comply under protest with the EU ETS, 2 Indian airlines serving Europe have been forbidden to take part and have failed to submit their 2011 emissions reports by the March 31 deadline, leaving open the possibility of fines by their UK authority. Climate Action Commissioner Connie Hedegaard said Europe “could not accept threats of all kinds of trouble just because a small price has to be paid for the pollution caused by travel, while no one grumbles about paying for online tickets, extra luggage or seat reservations.”
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Indian environment minister says EU ETS is ‘deal-breaker for climate talks’
India has formally forbidden its airlines from participating in the EU ETS, having earlier said it would boycott the scheme. The Indian environment minister says the ETS is a "deal-breaker" for global climate change talks, and she it saying the ETS is trying to disguise unilateral trade measures under climate change. A European Commission spokesman said "I don't see why this should be a deal-breaker if both share the same objective, which is reducing global emissions." The EU continues patiently to repeat that it has been driven to make all airlines pay for their emissions after more than a decade of talks at the United Nations' ICAO failed to find a global solution to rising emissions of greenhouse gases from aviation. However, ICAO has now been bounced into more action, though many environmental groups still question whether it can deliver a viable plan.
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Barker backs tougher EU emissions targets ahead of Denmark talks
The EU currently has a target of cutting its CO2 emissions by 20% of the 1990 level by 2020. The UK is pushing for this to be increased to 25% or 30% by 2020. The Climate Change minister, Greg Barker, says moving from the 20% to the 30% target would boost investment in low-carbon industries and strengthen the price of carbon, which has tumbled more than 60% in a year - and that the tougher targets would also help UK and European companies access a clean tech market estimated to be worth "trillions of dollars" by 2015. But he echoed George Osborne in his insistence that the UK would not act unilaterally if other EU states refused to sign up to more ambitious targets. The UK thinks it will exceed the 20% target. This does not include the embodied energy in imports. There are EU talks in Denmark next week. Poland is holding out against tighter targets.
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Nasa scientist Jim Hansen: climate change is a moral issue on a par with slavery
Prof Jim Hansen, who is leading climate scientist at NASA, says that the way in which our society now is storing up expensive and destructive consequences for society in future - by altering their climate - is an "injustice of one generation to others". Current generations have an over-riding moral duty to their children and grandchildren to take immediate action. He is also calling for a worldwide, flat rate tax on all carbon emissions to force immediate cuts in fossil fuel use, and this tax would rise each year. It would promote a dramatic increase in the investment and development of low-carbon energy sources and technologies. He says the latest climate models had shown the planet was on the brink of an emergency, with repeated natural disasters from extreme weather events which would affect large areas of the planet.
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Aviation should be included in the UK’s carbon budgets, Government advisers recommend
The Committee on Climate change produced its long awaited statement on how aviation should be included in the UK's 5-year carbon budgets. The Climate Act currently omits international aviation and shipping, but while setting budgets, the CCC has to "take account" of’ these emissions. The government must decide by the end of 2012 on whether to include them. The CCC recommends that international aviation and shipping should now be included, and that UK international aviation emissions should be back at the level they were in 2005 by 2050. The CCC says international aviation emissions should be added to currently legislated budgets based on the UK share of the EU ETS cap (i.e. 31 MtCO2e per year - which is 155 MtCO2e over the three 5 year budgets, taking us up to 2027). UK aviation emissions grew around 120% between 1990 and 2005. Due to the inclusion of aviation and shipping, the CO2 emissions of all other sectors have to be cut by over 80% of the 1990 level by 2005, so aviation is being given a very generous deal indeed. The CCC has decided not to include the non-CO2 effects of aviation for the time being, though these NOx etc impacts of other sectors are included, and it presumes that technology may be able to remove the problem in coming decades.
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Runways, emissions and the EU ETS: why Tim Yeo is wrong
This week Tim Yeo MP announced that he had changed his mind about Heathrow expansion and now supported the idea of building a third runway. He had two reasons: that the economic case in favour has changed, he says, and that aviation is now part of the EU ETS. He didn’t mention noise, air pollution, or destruction of local villages. But even on his own terms he’s wrong – on both counts. AEF’s new 2-page briefing Runways, emissions and the EU ETS explains why.
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Air China says no change in Airbus orders
TAir China Ltd has not cut or cancelled any Airbus orders and is sticking to the delivery plan for the aircraft. China has suspended the purchase of a total 55 Airbus jets, including 45 long-haul A330s and 10 Airbus A380 superjumbos worth a total of $14 billion amid a trade row over the ETS. Air China's chairman said the stand of China's central government is to oppose firmly the EU's unilateral move to impose a carbon tax and Air China is doing the same. Air China would stick to its plan to take delivery of 35 new aircraft this year, including fourteen A320/A310 and six A330 from Airbus. China wants the EU to conduct bilateral talks with the Chinese government to solve the dispute. Air China wants to expand passenger capacity by 8% percent on domestic routes and 12%t on international routes this year.
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New York Times: says EU ETS can be profitable for airlines
The New York Times says many airlines like Emirates could make significant amounts of money out of the EU ETS. It could make a modest profit of €1.5 million from a small surplus of permits, each representing a ton of carbon dioxide, that airlines can trade as part of the system. So far more than 20 countries have agreed on a basket of retaliatory measures that will penalize European carriers unless the system is suspended. As the current price of carbon is so very low, the cost is about €3 on the price of a round-trip ticket between Brussels and Washington, or about €4 for a round trip between Brussels and Beijing. Significant price increases are only expected after 2020. Airlines get 80% of their permits free, but many charge passengers anyway.
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India to ask airlines to shun EU carbon scheme
India is apparently poised to ask airlines not to take part in the ETS. China in February barred its airlines from participating in the ETS. The Indian official, with direct knowledge of talks between the EU and other countries on the issue, told Reuters that India will soon ask local airlines not to share emissions data with the bloc or buy any carbon credits. The official said that if the EU retaliates by suspending Indian airlines from flying to Europe, India would make similar moves and consider charging an "unreasonable" amount for flying over India. "We have lots of measures to take if the EU does not go back on its demands. We have the power of the economy, we are not bleeding as they are."