At yesterday’s hearing before the House of Representatives Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming, Administration officials and representatives of civil aviation organizations leveled strong criticism against European Union (EU) plans to bring civil aviation into its Emissions Trading System (EU-ETS). Under proposed directives issued in December 2007 and January 2008, the EU has laid out a plan to cap and reduce the greenhouse gas emissions of air carriers operating in the EU – including foreign-based carriers flying into or out of EU airports.

As noted by Committee Chairman Ed Markey (D-Mass.), civil aviation accounts for 12 percent of U.S. transportation CO₂ emissions and three percent of U.S. total CO₂ emissions. According to the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), civil aviation represents at least three percent of the total anthropogenic impact on climate change.

Witnesses at yesterday’s hearing – entitled “From the Wright Brothers to the Right Solutions: Curbing Soaring Aviation Emissions” – described a range of technology and policy measures, centered around increasing fuel efficiency, that are best-suited to curb aviation emissions. But the witnesses were uniform in condemning the EU plan to subject aviation to mandatory emissions reductions.

Thomas Windmuller, speaking for the International Air Transport Association, laid out the most detailed criticism. For one, he argued, the EU plan violates Article 1 of the 1944 Chicago Convention on International Civil Aviation, which establishes each country’s complete and exclusive sovereignty over its own air space. According to Mr. Windmuller, the EU-ETS as applied to civil aviation would constitute extraterritorial regulation of airlines’ operations in foreign airspace, in contravention of this key provision of international law. Mr. Windmuller further charged that, by compelling airlines to purchase expensive emissions credits, the EU would impede airlines’ efforts to further reduce emissions through other means. Other witnesses, including U.S. officials from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and Federal Aviation Administration, echoed Mr. Windmuller’s concerns.

Meanwhile, the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) is continuing its work on the development of a globally coordinated program to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from civil aviation. The first step, decided at the ICAO’s 36^th Assembly in September 2007, is the formation of a Group on International Aviation and Climate Change. According to Mr. Windmuller, that group is slated to issue its initial recommendations to the ICAO Council in 2009.

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