U.S. officials and EU discuss ETS, may ask ICAO to step in

Senior U.S. officials asked their EU counterparts to consider suspending the roll-out date for the EU’s Emission Trading Scheme (ETS) during a meeting in early December. The European Commission ruled out any postponement of the ETS, but it said that it would review the aviation part of ETS if there would be a global agreement in the aviation sector to curb greenhouse gas emissions. Both sides showed interest in bringing the issue to the attention of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), the agency of the United Nations that regulates the aviation industry.

U.S. to present plan to ICAO

The meeting was one of two yearly meetings scheduled for the implementation of the 2007 EU-U.S. Open Sky air transport agreement. The U.S. was represented by Julie Oettinger, assistant administrator for policy, international affairs and environment at the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). There were also representations from the U.S. Departments of Transportation, State, Commerce and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the U.S. airline industry, as well as an environmental group. The EU was represented by officials from DG Mobility and Transport and DG Climate Action. Also in attendance were various EU member state officials from Denmark, France, Poland, Spain, Italy and the United Kingdom. “It was constructive in that the U.S. addressed questions the EU had raised several months ago on what the U.S. planned to do to address aviation emissions,” said Pamela Campos, attorney for the U.S. environmental advocacy group, Environmental Defense Fund (EDF). Representatives of the U.S. said that on June 2012, they would present a plan to ICAO. The plan would consist of several measures, including air traffic control reforms and investments in alternative fuels. The package will not include a “cap and trade system,” along the EU framework but the overall targets of the U.S. will more likely mirror those of ICAO. ICAO has set a goal of fuel efficiency improvement by 2% annually until 2020. (December 12, 2011)