Ships, Planes Should Cut CO2 by Up to 20%, Dimas Says

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30 Sep 2009

The European Union may propose that the shipping and airline industries reduce carbon-dioxide emissions by as much as 20 percent over the next decade as part of any new United Nations accord to fight global warming. Ships would have to cut CO2 by a fifth in 2020 compared with 2005 and airlines would need to trim discharges by 10 percent over the period under a proposal that the EU is preparing for the UN, said European Environment Commissioner Stavros Dimas.
The plan is still working its way through the 27-nation EU, which could make changes because of possible internal resistance, Dimas said. Any such proposal may also ultimately face opposition at the UN level from China and India, he said.
“I don’t know how it will end up,” Dimas said in an interview today after a conference speech in Brussels. His comments come as the UN resumes negotiations this week in Bangkok on curbing greenhouse gases including CO2, the main such pollutant.
The EU is seeking to build momentum for a new UN treaty to counter the heat waves, storms and floods tied to global warming. The UN aims at a December meeting in Copenhagen for an agreement that would replace the Kyoto Protocol after it expires in 2012.
Kyoto Treaty   
Europe wants the world to tackle transport emissions after the Kyoto treaty excluded the maritime and aviation industries from reduction targets. Last year, the EU approved legislation that will cap CO2 from domestic and foreign airlines serving European airports as of 2012.
The EU law will add carriers to the European emissions- trading system, which currently imposes CO2 quotas on energy and manufacturing companies and requires those exceeding their limits to buy spare permits from businesses that emit less. The bloc has so far held off imposing similar curbs on maritime emissions in order to allow for a coordinated global approach.
Europe’s goal at Copenhagen is to make fossil-fuel use more costly and turn the European emissions-trading system into the cornerstone of a global market. In that context, the EU is pressing wealthy economies to commit to reductions in greenhouse gases by 2020 and offer aid to poor countries.
‘Slow Progress’
European Commission President Jose Barroso yesterday reiterated concerns about the pace of the UN talks. The commission, the EU’s executive arm, negotiates on behalf of the bloc.
“I am seriously concerned about the slow progress in the negotiations,” Barroso told the Brussels environmental conference that Dimas attended earlier. “Copenhagen is a vital meeting.”
The EU is already on course to cut greenhouse gases by a fifth in 2020 compared with 1990 and is willing to deepen its reduction target to 30 percent over the period provided other wealthy economies follow suit.
Dimas said he still aimed for any Copenhagen agreement to be ambitious enough to give the EU room to move to a 30 percent reduction target.

Source: Bloomberg