Press on with measure to curb emissions: panel

[SINGAPORE] The global aviation community must continue to work on establishing a global market-based measure (MBM) to curb the growth of carbon emissions from airlines, even as Europe pushes for a watered-down version of its emissions trading scheme (ETS) for the aviation industry, said panellists at the Singapore Airshow Aviation Leadership Summit yesterday.

At the 38th Icao Assembly last year, the 191 International Civil Aviation Organization (Icao) member states had voted to develop a global MBM, with proposals for the scheme to be put forth at the next Icao assembly in 2016 and an eye on implementation in 2020.

Matthew Baldwin, directorate-general for mobility and transport at the European Commission, yesterday highlighted that it had taken into account concerns raised previously and had revised the scope of its original plan, which had initially called for airlines to pay an emissions tax based on the distance from the last point of take-off. That scheme had incited staunch opposition from countries such as China and had nearly sparked a trade war.