IATA calls for U.N. deal to avert carbon trade war

[dipsydoodle]

(Reuters) - Global airlines called on Sunday for a deal brokered by a United Nations agency to avoid an impasse between China and the European Union over jet pollution spilling into a trade war.

China's decision to order its airlines not to join an EU carbon trading scheme, and the EU's refusal so far to back down on its plans, have wedged airlines between conflicting laws, the head of the International Air Transport Association said.

"This is an intolerable situation which clearly has to be resolved. It cannot go on like this," IATA Director General Tony Tyler told Reuters in an interview.

Airlines have called on the EU to abandon a recently launched scheme to charge for emissions and negotiate a global agreement at ICAO, the aviation arm of the United Nations.

http://uk.reuters.com/article/2012/02/12/uk-iata-idUKTRE81B07420120212

[pampango]

1. It's not just between China and the EU. "World powers 'plan anti-carbon tax talks'"

India, Russia, the United States, China and other countries will meet in Moscow this month to decide whether to retaliate against the EU's decision to impose a carbon tax on air travel, a report says. The European Union (EU) imposed the tax with effect from January 1, but over two dozen countries, including India, Russia, China and the United States, have opposed the move saying it violates international law.

The Press Trust of India late Friday quoted what it said were official sources as saying over 30 countries would meet in Moscow on February 21 and 22 to decide on retaliatory measures against the EU if it insists on imposing the carbon tax on non-EU flights as there was "growing agreement" on the matter.

A "Delhi Declaration" was unanimously adopted at a meeting of the International Civil Aviation Organization Council and other non-EU member states in New Delhi last September. The declaration opposed EU's plan to include all flights by non-EU carriers to and from an airport in the EU territory in its emissions trading system, saying it was inconsistent with applicable international law.

The EU has said the carbon tax will help the 27-nation bloc achieve its goal of cutting emissions by 20 percent by 2020.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5jMiGZMN_dXh2g6yHejTBN4I1PcVQ?docId=CNG.a1a99f46d4e0c9d708465fe658b36ead.1a1

I think the EU has the right idea with its carbon tax and emissions trading system. Sounds like if India, Russia, China, the United States and others did more to control their emissions this tax wouldn't apply to them anyway. This needs to be worked out in multilateral negotiations with the EU prevailing, I hope.

[raouldukelives]

2. I'm glad to see someone trying to do something.

It all comes down to if people want to keep places like Yosemite alive for the next century. From what I can see, they could care less as long as they can jet to Dallas for an overnight business meeting. Douglas Firs can eat the big one.

[izquierdista]

3. They need to look at the credit side of the ledger

Debits (charges) for emissions is one thing, but there also have to be credits for sequestering carbon. This is a lot harder to count than tonnage of fossil fuel burned. China is doing a lot of tree planting, trying to reverse the desertification taking place in the west of the country, and under a logical system, they should be getting a lot of credits for it. They are still probably burning more coal and building more coal-fired power plants than they are planting of deserts, but the question is not about what to do, it's about where the balance lies. If they can be encouraged to do even more in the way of planting, there is a diplomatic way out of the 'intolerable situation'.

[on point]

4. Time to apply tariffs and surcharges to those not reducing carbon emissions

with a 10% penalty surcharge. That will take away any economic incentive not to reduce carbon emissions and protect those who are.