Airlines vow to cut emissions by 2016

THE aviation industry is making positive strides towards developing a global offsetting scheme to meet the goal of carbon-neutral growth by 2020, although political and technical challenges still have to be addressed along the way.

At the 38th ICAO Assembly last September, nearly 190 nations agreed to design a worldwide scheme to curb aviation emissions by 2016. Since then, the Environmental Advisory Group was set up by the ICAO Council, consisting of 17 members of the Council and the International Air Transport Association (Iata). ICAO is the United Nations' aviation body.

A preliminary proposal, consisting of a global offsetting scheme, is being developed with an eye on presenting this to the 2016 ICAO Assembly. Other schemes which were initially considered include a global emissions trading scheme and an offsetting scheme with an additional tax.