Airline industry confident of global emissions deal next year: IATA

[PARIS] Airlines are confident a deal will be reached next year on a global market-based system to regulate emissions from aviation, the head of the International Air Transport Association (IATA) said on Thursday.

Tony Tyler, director general of IATA, said the aviation industry believed a simple offset mechanism would be the most effective scheme.

"We are confident that, given the current pace of discussions, it will be possible for an agreement to be made at ICAO next year, with the implementation details being clarified in the lead-up to 2020," he said at the Paris Airshow.

Almost 200 nations meet in Paris from the end of November, on the same site as the airshow, to try to strike a new agreement to curb greenhouse gas emissions and limit the rise in average global temperatures to two degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels.

Emissions from European flights are covered by the European Union's Emissions Trading System (ETS). An EU law meant to extend the arrangement to intercontinental aviation emissions from 2012 caused an outcry.

That forced the EU to retreat and the UN's International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) took on the task of coming up with a global alternative, setting a deadline for late 2016.

Mr Tyler said the aviation industry was focused on the ICAO talks, but the talks in Paris in November could provide a boost.

"I'm sure that a successful outcome in Paris can only help to provide momentum and the right environment for ICAO to succeed," he said.

REUTERS