International action and the role of ICAO
The Kyoto process
The first international activities addressing climate change might be dated back to 1972 to the UN Conference on Human Environment in Stockholm. Twenty years later, in 1992 the UN Conference on Environment and Development took place in Rio de Janeiro and decided to address climate change and environmental issues by adopting the Rio Convention and the action plan named Agenda 21. This conference can be seen as a milestone to address climate change on a global level.The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), which is an international environmental treaty, was negotiated in Rio de Janeiro and entered into force on 21 March 1994. The UNFCCC objective is to “stabilize greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere at a level that would prevent dangerous anthropogenic interference with the climate system”. Since 1992,195 countries have joined the UNFCCC and worked together in the process of developing an international agreement which led to the Kyoto Protocol (UN, 1998).
Art 2.3 of the Protocol commits the signatory states to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and their concentration in the atmosphere “to minimize adverse effects, including the adverse effects of climate change”. The Kyoto Protocol was adopted in Kyoto, Japan, on 11 December 1997 and entered into force on 16 February 2005 after several years of discussion and negotiation.
The countries which have joined the UNFCCC hold regular annual meetings, the Conference of the Parties (COP), to improve the implementation of measures and design a frame for a Kyoto follow-on period; from the authors point of view not all time successful, if we take the Copenhagen Conference in 2009 and its output - the Copenhagen Accord - as an indicator.
The Protocol’s first commitment period started in 2008 and ended in 2012. A second commitment period, after difficult negotiations, was agreed on in 2012, and known as the Doha Amendment to the Protocol.
One key principle of the Kyoto Protocol is the principle of “Common but Differentiated Responsibilities” (CBDR), which puts the obligation to reduce emissions based on defined reduction target only on developed countries (as defined in Annex 1 of the Protocol).The reduction obligations can vary significantly from country to country.
To support the achievement of the emissions reduction goals, the Kyoto Protocol defines three flexibility mechanisms that can be used. These mechanisms are Emissions Trading, the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM), and Joint Implementation (JI). An emission trading system allows Annex I Parties to “trade” the so-called “Assigned Amount Units” (AAUs) or “allowances” which represent “unused emissions reductions” with partners in the system.The CDM and JI are called “project-based mechanisms”. They generate emission reductions from projects. The CDM is designed for emission reductions in nonAnnex I Parties, while JI focuses on Annex I Parties.
The production of emission reductions generated by the CDM and JI can be used by Annex I Parties in meeting their emission limitation commitments. They can also be linked to an emission trading system and help that system to compensate or overcome shortfalls in availability of allowances. All three instruments had been and are in use. One example also for linking various elements is the emission trading system in Europe, but also several other countries have implemented or are considering implementing an ETS and/or carbon pricing (World Bank, 2018).
The negotiations addressing an international climate regulation framework beyond 2020 continued in the annual UNFCCC Conferences of the Parties (COP). After many years of complex and difficult negotiations, the 21st Conference of the Parties (COP 21) in Paris in 2015 finally delivered and agreed in the adoption of the Paris Agreement, a new global agreement on the reduction of climate change. The Paris Agreement is seen as milestone agreement. It includes many new elements for a future-oriented climate policy but also addresses continuity concerning the existing instruments and mechanisms to control climate change. Last but not least, it will be binding for the signatory states.
Interestingly, in contrast to earlier COP conferences, the international aviation and maritime sectors are not mentioned in the Paris Agreement. This fact has created different reactions in the outside world. There was some criticism especially from non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in certain regions of the wo rid. Whether that criticism has its rationale or not can be decided by the reader.The essential aspect which should not be forgotten in this debate is that there was and still is a clear obligation and task for aviation to act on the basis of the Kyoto Protocol. Action was taken by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO). ICAO delivered and approved the implementation of a carbon-neutral growth strategy, pushing for improvement in all technical, operational and legal aspects of aviation.The important new element in this strategy is the implementation of a mandatory “CARBON Offsetting and Reduction Scheme—CORSI A” at the general assembly in 2016. CORSI A supports the climate goal of ICAO to freeze the carbon dioxide emissions from international aviation on the level of the year 2020.
