The aviation industry has reiterated its support for a global deal to tackle greenhouse gas emissions from the sector, insisting it wants to see a "global framework to limit and reduce aviation emissions" agreed ahead of the UN's climate change summit in Cancun, Mexico, in November.

Speaking at a two day summit in Geneva late last week, Giovanni Bisignani, director general of the International Air Transport Association (IATA), said the industry was hopeful that a meeting later this month of the UN International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) in Montreal could provide recommendations for a global framework that could be incorporated in any international climate change deal.

He also urged the UN to endorse targets adopted by the industry that are designed to deliver a 1.5 per cent average annual improvement in fuel efficiency to 2020, cap net emissions from 2020 onwards, and cut net emissions from the sector in half by 2050 compared to 2005 levels.

The aviation industry has prepared a submission ahead of the ICAO meeting, which argues that the UN's aviation body has to finalise a global plan for cutting emissions ahead of the main climate change summit later this year.

The sector is increasingly fearful that regional efforts to curb greenhouse gas emissions, such as the EU's plan to include aviation in its emissions trading scheme (ETS) from 2012 or the UK government's proposed per-plane levy, will drive up costs while having a limited impact on emissions.

The proposals have been severely criticised by the US and, closer to home, by the Confederation of British Industry (CBI), which argued that national or regional levies would simply divert flights to other countries.

(BusinessGreen)

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