• MEPs call for reduction target on aviation and shipping emissions in Paris deal

    MEPs today called on the EU and all other countries at this year’s Paris climate summit to ensure a requirement is included for reducing emissions from international aviation and shipping. Parliamentarians called for emissions reduction targets for both sectors to be set before the end of 2016 by the corresponding UN agencies, the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) and the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO).

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    Echoing comments earlier this week from the OECD’s International Transport Forum that it would be odd for countries to have to adhere to emissions reduction targets but not the international shipping sector, the Parliament’s plenary voted for parties to the Paris deal to ensure that aviation and shipping is regulated consistent with keeping the increase in global warming below 2°C and thus avoiding the most disastrous effects of climate change.

    Sotiris Raptis, shipping policy officer at Transport & Environment, said: “The Parliament has sent a clear message to the EU and all negotiators at Paris; the aviation and shipping sectors need emissions reduction targets too, so there is no reasonable excuse to continue exempting them. You just can’t have a global deal to combat climate change without capping the growing emissions from international aviation and shipping, which have CO2 emissions equal to those of the UK and Germany respectively.”

    Aviation accounts for about 5% of global warming. Net emissions continue to grow 2-3% a year. CO2 from shipping is about 3% of the global total. Both sectors are among the fastest growing sources of emissions at a global level.