Possible looming conflict with EU regulation of greenhouse gas emissions from civil aviation: United States prefers ICAO action.

• Author: Crook, John R.
• Position: International Civil Aviation Organization

The United States and the European Union appear to be approaching a conflict regarding regulation of greenhouse gas emissions from international civil aviation. (1) In December 2007, the EU's Environment Council approved extension of the EU's Greenhouse Gas Emission Trading Scheme (ETS) (2) to international civil aviation, effective in 2012. (3) Additional steps will be required prior to final adoption and implementation of this decision, including approval by EU transport ministers and final approval by the European Parliament. (4) Senior European officials have indicated their determination, however, to place international civil aviation under Europe's cap-and-trade system. (5)

U.S. officials, as well as aviation authorities from many other countries, contend that unilateral extension of ETS to non-European carriers will violate the 1947 Chicago Convention on International Civil Aviation and bilateral civil aviation agreements, and that the issue should be addressed multilaterally through the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO). European officials have countered that regulation of international carriers' emissions would be nondiscriminatory and consistent with the Chicago Convention, and that other states' consent is not required.

Regulation of emissions by civil aviation was a major focus of the ICAO Assembly in Montreal in September 2007. The organization adopted several relevant resolutions, including a work plan supported by the United States (see below). In an October speech a senior Department of Transportation official summarized U.S. views regarding greenhouse gas emissions from aircraft, European plans to regulate them, and the role of ICAO.

[T]here is an ambient dissatisfaction ... with the pace at which the [aviation] industry is addressing the emissions problem--most conspicuously in Europe ... [E]veryone knew that we would be discussing the European Commission's proposed emissions trading system and its application to flights operated by non-European airlines [at ICAO]--an application that many delegations, including the U.S., had already characterized as inappropriately unilateral, extraterritorial, and inconsistent with the Chicago Convention and bilateral air services agreements ... ... [T]here was no disagreement among the 179 member countries represented in Montreal ... that more concerted and effective action was required to reduce the carbon footprint of international aviation. Nor was there disagreement...