Airlines support carbon emissions deal despite costs -trade group

By Victoria Bryan and Allison Lampert
DUBLIN/MONTREAL, June 3 (Reuters) - Airlines want one global
deal to reduce carbon dioxide emissions from air travel despite
higher costs, in order to avoid a patchwork of regulation that
would be harder to manage, an executive of the International Air
Transport Association trade group said on Friday.
The market-based plan must win the support of the United
Nations aviation agency's 191 member countries at a fall
assembly, or risk the European Union's imposing its own
emissions trading scheme on international airlines.
At its annual meeting this week in Dublin, the trade group
said the deal led by the International Civil Aviation
Organization, or ICAO, should be the only agreement to reduce
emissions from international aviation.
"It's really a top priority," said IATA Corporate Secretary
Paul Steele. "It's dominated discussions here in our board
meetings."
Steele expressed optimism that a deal would be reached at
Montreal-based ICAO. The plan would allow airlines to offset
their emissions by buying carbon credits from designated
environmental projects.
Airlines recognize the deal would add costs. For example,
the cost of fuel on an A380 flight from London to Beijing would
be $45,000, and a carbon offset at the highest price would be 10
percent of that, Steele said.
"The industry hates costs," Steele said. "But this is a cost
we believe needs to be built into system, and with that level
and with a carbon offset scheme, we think it's the right way to
go."
Countries remain divided over the proposed agreement on
issues like the large number of exempted states. According to
early drafts, at least a third of emissions from air travel
would not have to be offset.
To help bridge the divide, Singapore recently proposed a
pilot phase before the start of the global agreement, two
sources familiar with the talks said.
IATA has said any pilot period should not delay the planned
agreement's 2021 start date.
Steele said airlines wanted as much of the industry as
possible to be involved in the program from the start.
Ahead of the fall assembly, ICAO's president and some
countries will hold late August meetings before presenting a new
draft to the governing council, the sources said.
Aviation was excluded from the landmark climate accord in
Paris in December, when countries agreed to limit the rise in
global temperatures to "well below" 2 degrees Celsius (3.6
degrees Fahrenheit) above pre-industrial levels.