China has not yet taken a position on a global market-based measure (MBM) being negotiated by the UN's International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO), the EU's commissioner for transport, Violeta Bulc, has said.
"China has not clearly expressed its position yet," Bulc said at the European Parliament's Environment Committee yesterday as she updated MEPs on the ICAO talks progress.
The ICAO has undertaken to agree a global MBM to limit international aviation's greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions at its general assembly from 27 September-7 October. The outcome of the negotiations will determine the treatment of intercontinental flights under the EU emissions trading scheme (EU ETS). Their emissions will again be included in the EU ETS at the end of 2016 when a temporary exemption expires — unless the ICAO agrees a robust deal.
The EU has pursued diplomatic efforts to help secure a deal and Bulc has held meetings with other countries, including at an ICAO gathering in Montreal, Canada, in February.
A recent meeting with US transport secretary Anthony Foxx resulted in a "fruitful discussion," with both parties agreeing that the EU and US had to be united, Bulc said. "This time we are on the same side."
Bulc singled out a forthcoming meeting with Chinese officials as especially important. "One of the more important visits will be my visit to China, where we will address this issue [of a global MBM]," she said.
Many important stakeholders already support the proposal for a global MBM, but "not everybody is on board yet," Bulc said. So the commission is reaching out to key partners and taking every opportunity to engage with those that are not yet convinced, she said.
Negotiations have move forward substantially from the last meeting and even those that have not explicitly expressed their positions are in favour of reaching an agreement, the commissioner said.
"My feeling is that everyone wants to reach an agreement and that is why I am confident that we will actually find one," she said.
A proposal for a global MBM that will largely be an offsets-based scheme tabled in December by ICAO council president Olumuyiwa Benard Aliu has been "further refined over past few months," according to Bulc.
The proposal addresses the key basic features of an offsetting global MBM in "a balanced manner" and offers "a good basis for negotiations," even if it could be further improved, she said.
It balances the ICAO principle of non-discrimination with the "special circumstances and respective capabilities of developing countries," while at same time preserving environmental integrity.
The EU also welcomes the fact that operators will be treated equally on the same routes as "this will minimise competitive distortions to our industry from the industry of third countries," Bulc said.
But the EU still wants to see the proposal strengthened to ensure it delivers the ICAO's goal of carbon-neutral growth from 2020, Bulc said.
The EU initially advocated a GHG reduction target for the global aviation sector of 10pc by 2020 compared with 2005. But it now appears "expedient" for the EU "to seize the opportunity" to promote the development of a global MBM to limit GHG emissions from global aviation to 2020 levels, "bearing in mind the review of the objective over time," according to a negotiating mandate drafted by the commission earlier this month. Global aviation emissions are projected to be around 70pc higher in 2020 than in 2005.
But Green MEP Bas Eickhout criticised the CO2-neutral growth after 2020 goal as too huge a compromise on the EU's part. The commission is "already giving away a huge concession even before real negotiations have started," he said.
"Where are your red lines — what are you going to accept?" he asked, highlighting the temporary exemption of some countries from carbon-neutral growth and criteria to ensure offsets' quality and prevent double-counting as key negotiating issues.
Eickhout also called on the commission to oppose any provision in the ICAO deal that prohibits regional measures. Such language will prompt parliament to block an extension of the stop-the-clock measure, whereby emissions from intercontinental flights are exempted from the EU ETS, he warned.
The global MBM has to provide for periodic reviews, a strong transparency framework, robust monitoring, reporting and verification (MRV) rules and the use of high-quality offsets that represent genuine GHG emission reductions, Bulc said.
But not all of the global MBM's design elements will not be agreed by the ICAO assembly in October, so the decision should also contain a roadmap for the remaining elements to be finalised in time for the scheme to become operational from 2020, she said.
A high-level ICAO meeting will be held on 11-13 May to agree the global MBM's draft elements.
