Two months ahead of the annual United Nations convention on climate change in Paris, known as COP21 (Conference of the Parties), aviation industry executives are trying to persuade governments to support their “market-based measures” CO₂ emissions control scheme under development through the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO). They also want to steer the Paris negotiators away from actions that might poach aviation funds.

The environment committee for the Paris talks recently adopted a resolution proposing to earmark some of the European Union’s Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) fees as a source of climate finance for other business sectors.

“In our view, such a blunt instrument would not have any measurable environmental benefit,” said Air Transport Action Group (ATAG) executive director Michael Gill during the group's Global Sustainable Aviation Summit, held September 29 and 30 in Geneva. “The draft text on using aviation as a source of climate financing is causing concern among a number of countries, particularly those that rely heavily on air transport for their connectivity and development. The developing and small island states would be particularly hard hit by ratcheting up the cost of flying. Even environmental groups that are pushing the scheme acknowledge the damage it would do to tourism and trade.”

ICAO Council president Dr. Olumuyiwa Benard Aliu called for avoidance of financial imposition on the aviation industry at COP21. “Reliable air services are too fundamental to local and regional development priorities, and states must consistently be made aware of the negative impacts which aviation taxes and fees can have on their longer-term, broad-based and sustainable economic prosperity,” Aliu told summit participants.

Gill and more than two dozen other chief executives of air transport industry companies and associations released an open letter to governments, “reaffirming our commitment to reduce aviation’s contribution to climate change” and calling on governments to support efforts toward realizing the aviation community’s consensus goals of carbon-neutral growth by 2020 and cutting in half CO₂ emissions by 2050.

“There’s only so much the aviation industry can do by itself. We’re a heavily regulated sector, and to fully realize the potential for efficiency measures we need governments to step up and commit also,” Gill said. “We need governments meeting at the ICAO Assembly next year to endorse the implementation of a simple global offsetting scheme which will stabilize air transport carbon emissions growth. Failure to agree will harm our vital global sector and will harm our global climate.”

To buttress its good citizen credentials, ATAG released an “Aviation Climate Solutions” report, which describes 100 case study examples of positive aviation climate action, ranging from alternative aircraft fuels to free route airspace to eco-friendly engine wash.