Civil aviation High Ambition emissions reduction at COP26? yeah nah just more greenwashing, blah, blah , blah - back to you ICAO

Spoof Aviation ambition website details what true ambition might look like

The United Kingdon today unveiled the  International Aviation Climate Ambition Coalition at the 26th Conference of the Parties (COP26) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.

High ambition? Get out . There is nothing substantially new in this declaration.

The declaration notes that the number of global air passengers and volume of cargo is expected to increase significantly over the next 30 years, and they want the aviation industry to continue to build back better and grow in a sustainable manner.

It also acknowledges that international action on tackling aviation emissions is essential, including specifying the 1.5C and 2C Paris Agreement temperature targets.

Meanwhile activists set up a spoof International Aviation Climate Ambition Coalition website which put forward actual aviation emissions reduction ambition. It listed 5 commitments that would actually reduce emissions from this sector:

1. Halve air traffic emissions departing from signatory countries by 2030, from 2005 levels. This is in line with the Paris Agreement’s Common but Differentiated Responsibilities and Respective Capabilities (CBDR-RC) approach, and will allow improved equality of access to travel in developing countries, within the context of reducing global aviation emissions.
2. Include emissions from flight departures (both domestic and international) within signatory country’s Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), accounting for both CO2 and non-CO2 warming effects.
3. Introduce a minimum jet fuel tax of €0.33 per litre on flights between member states, with the revenue raised used for climate mitigation and adaptation in climate vulnerable countries.
4. Not use carbon offsetting as an emissions reduction measure. Coalition members are therefore raising the ambition beyond that previously agreed with the Carbon Offsetting and Reduction Scheme for International Aviation (CORSIA) within the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO).
5. 5. Ban crop-based aviation biofuel. This involves the commitment to strengthen CORSIA’s sustainability criteria for Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF). 

Momentum from #ParisAgreement for climate action at #COP22 Marrakech

The Paris agreement will enter into force on November 4, 2016 in record time. Never before has an international United Nations Agreement come into force so quickly. But Australia is still to ratify. Unfortunately with the lack of ambitious targets and climate policies Australia is on the outer as theParis Agreement comes alive for Marrakech.

Three days after the Paris Agreement comes into force the UNFCCC climate Conference of the Parties, COP22, will meet in Marrakech to discuss the finer details of the Paris Agreement and how action can be taken further on climate change. This will include encouraging other actors, such as city level and regional governments and businesses, to step up.

In the last two months there has also been significant steps on a global level in two other areas which has maintained the momentum of the Paris moment: aviation emissions and phasedown of HFC greenhouse gases under the Montreal Protocol.

Pacific Island nations lead in ratification of Paris Agreement on climate change

The Pacific Islands Forum Leaders’ Meeting has concluded in Pohnpei in the Marshall Islands. A major focus of this meeting was action on climate change following Paris and COP21.

The Statement following 47th Pacific Islands Forum Leaders’ Meeting was released by the Minister for Foreign Affairs of the Republic of the Marshall Islands, The Honorable John Silk:

“Today’s communique is a clarion call to action that even with the Paris Agreement, there remains a lot of work to do to guarantee there will still be 16 seats at the Pacific Islands Forum in a hundred years from now.”

“The Pacific is strongest when we come together and fight as one. Along with our big brothers and sisters in Australia and New Zealand, we have declared that we will continue to push for an ambitious amendment to the Montreal Protocol in October, and to see ambitious climate action across all sectors. This must include reducing aviation and maritime emissions in line with the 1.5°C temperature target we all agreed in Paris.”

“I want to particularly thank President Christian for the Federated States of Micronesia’s tireless leadership in the Montreal Protocol negotiations, beginning with their first submission in 2009. If we succeed in Kigali, it will be one of the best examples of island leadership that we have ever seen and help us avoid up to half a degree of warming – the biggest chunk yet off the ambition gap.”