About
twenty-five years ago there was an uproar of the global warming as a threat to
our existence as we are aware of it. Since then many more studies have been
done to find research on ways to change the world to be environmentally
friendly. In the last ten years alone we have seen the United States change to
include windmills and solar panels. There have been rants, fundraisers,
legalities and disputes over the environment. We recently discussed about the
new developments from Boeing and Airbus and their attempts for an airplane
composed of composite material. These are all examples of the developments
emerged from the discovery of Global Warming.
The European Union (EU) is now trying to lead the world in a new attempt
to lower the percentage of greenhouse gasses released into the atmosphere by
instating the Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) which will limit the amount of
emissions on flight into, out of and within EU airspace and also tax those
which exceed the limit. 2010 and 2011 served as a monitoring period for those
affected in air travel. The tiered effect of emissions cap was outline in the
article given out in class published by Air Line Pilot magazine. Within the
article it shows how there will be gradual decrease of allowable emission
annually permitting the EU to meet their agreement of cutting emission at least
20%of 1990 levels by 2020. The EU also
made an agreement to increase emission reduction efforts to 30% by 2020.
More than 20 countries are against the implementation of the EU
ETS and its impact on each countries current operator, because ETS is
inconsistent with international law. In December, the U.S. Department of
Transportation requested U.S. and European carriers to present ETS data to the
U.S. government in an a industry move believed by Aviation Daily to be a means
of retaliation by the U.S. government. The Airlines for America (A4A) attempted
to sue the EU for ETS by being a violation of international law.
The International Civil Aviation Organization's (ICAO) response to the EU ETS is quite political as they do not agree with the
conclusion on previous disputes they elect to come draw-up a new proposal with
the agreed upon framework of 2010 included. In regards to the overall emission
problem they agree with the EU to which a solution is needed but not in the
manner of the current ETS conclusion.
My response
to the ETS is conflicted after reading more than a few articles and press
releases from opposing sides to the battle. In my opinion I do understand a
precedence of the emissions issue and I do even agree with taxing above a
capped amount of emissions, but with that being said it brings about many
concerns across the board. How will the airlines cut their emissions to stay
within the restrictions? Will some international carriers have to reroute or
worse cut routes to not face bankruptcy? Will short cuts become a problem
within the parties involved? ICAO
strives to promote international cooperation between countries for the aviation
transportation community. Since air travel is influential on the emission as a
relatively small percentage I feel ICAO should proceed with finding a solution
to mitigate the emission problems of global warming, but should take the EU out
of the process completely. By creating the EU ETS there is undue stress within
the industry, which should be handled, global instead of continentally.
Four percent; that is the amount of CO2 emissions that air travel accounts for in our current world. Going after an industry with such low responsibility for the raise in the Earth's level of CO2 is the wrong approach if you ask me. If the EU is concerned about slowing down the level of CO2 emissions, they should be more concerned with power generation and automobiles.
ReplyDeleteAs far as the ICAO making rules for CO2 emissions and taxes, that could have an adverse effect on their legitimacy. That could really upset a lot of member countries because of the tax burden to aviation that it would create.
With the EU ETS new emissions law not only with this have a major effect on America Airlines but Airlines accross the world. I agree that this issue should be handled globally rather than continentally. If ICAO does not do anything about this in the future it will have a major impact on many airlines, Europe has so many routes and is so popular amongst the world that it has potential to bankrupt some airlines. Something needs to be done to solve this solution before it gets out of hand!
ReplyDeleteI do also believe that the world needs to do something about Co2 emissions, but the EU is going about it completely wrong. I think that ETS will actually prevent any improvements with emissions in the future, instead of improving it. All of the taxes will reduce the funds for airline upgrades. I do agree that this issue should be handled globally by the ICAO instead of by just one continent.
ReplyDeleteI really appreciated your last paragraph. You raised a number of questions that really deserve additional research and thought.
ReplyDeleteI like the EU ETS idea of reducing green house gases to the atmosphere. I believe in the aviation industry it would be very beneficial. But I have to agree that EU ETS is not going about it the right when there is 20 or more countries against it.
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