Aviation & Ocean Transport Steal U.N. World Local weather Deal Headlines

As delegates from nearly 200 international locations, 195 to be actual, attempt to work collectively in Paris to barter a worldwide local weather settlement, the large information surrounding the most recent draft of their world local weather deal printed by the United Nations is just not what’s in it, however what is just not in it.

You possibly can learn the draft right here, however when you do, you’ll not discover a single reference to transport, whether or not the maritime or aviation sector.

And that reality is headlining story after story in regards to the try of the United Nations’ to succeed in settlement on what’s to be achieved in regard to world warming.

The 2015 Paris Local weather Convention (COP21) has introduced the practically 200 nations collectively with the aim “to maintain the rise within the world common temperature to beneath 2°C above pre-industrial ranges.”

Or is that basically the aim?

Ideally, the United Nations want to do even higher than that with its Framework Conference on Local weather Change that COP21 falls beneath. Conserving world warming beneath 2°C is possibility one in every of three listed within the objective part of the Paris settlement draft.

The opposite choices point out wishes to work for even much less world warming temperature improve:

Choice 2: effectively beneath 2°C above pre-industrial ranges [and to [rapidly] scale up world efforts to restrict temperature improve to beneath 1.5 °C] [,while recognizing that in some regions and vulnerable ecosystems high risks are projected even for warming above 1.5 °C],

Choice 3: beneath 1.5°C above pre-industrial ranges, making an allowance for one of the best out there science, fairness, sustainable improvement, the necessity to guarantee meals safety and the supply of technique of implementation, by guaranteeing deep reductions in world greenhouse gasoline [net] emissions;

Mainly, conserving world warming inside a 2°C rise have to be considered the naked minimal aim for the United Nations. That aim, some critics are saying, can’t be achieved if worldwide transport sectors are ignored within the settlement.

In line with Reuters, worldwide transport, each when it comes to aviation and maritime, was addressed in a earlier draft, even when solely briefly:

A earlier U.N. draft, printed on Dec. 5 and closely couched with brackets stated: [Parties pursue the limitation or reduction of greenhouse gas emissions from international aviation and marine bunker fuels … a view to agreeing concrete measures addressing these emissions.”

No specific regulations, guidelines, or measures existed in that paragraph, but many felt it added pressure to the international shipping industry to decrease the greenhouse gas, CO2 emissions. The paragraph’s removal has resounded like a call to arms for green groups.

Seas At Risk, an umbrella organization of environmental NGOs, published an article with the headline: Excluding aviation and shipping emissions from COP deal makes 2°C limit close to impossible.

Here’s an excerpt:

The dropping of international aviation and shipping emissions from the draft Paris climate agreement published this afternoon has fatally undermined the prospects of keeping global warming below 2°C, green NGOs Seas At Risk and Transport & Environment (T&E) have said.

As their emissions uniquely fall outside national reduction targets, they require an explicit reference in the agreement. 

If treated as countries, global aviation and shipping would both make the list of top 10 emitters. In recent years their emissions have grown twice as fast as the those of the global economy – an 80% rise in CO2 output from aviation and shipping between 1990 and 2010, versus 40% growth in CO2 emissions from global economic activity – and they are projected to grow by up to 270% in 2050.

The International Chamber of Shipping (ICS) has been toting very different numbers in a fact sheet they published leading up to COP21, pointing out all the effort and success maritime international shipping has had in reducing CO2 emissions.

Here are some of the numbers and CO2 emissions advancements the ICS has been using to paint a very different picture of the maritime industry than that painted by Seas At Risk from our previous blog on ICS’s claim that ocean shipping is part of the solution to climate change:

The ICS fact sheet lists the following achievements that have already been made in CO2 emission reductions when it comes to ocean shipping:

– 10% reduction in total CO2 (2007 – 2012) 

– Carbon neutral growth 

– Mandatory CO2 rules already in force globally 

– 20% less CO2 per tonne/km than 2005 

Then the fact sheet shows the advancements that are on the way:

The European Parliament is looking at different numbers and projections than those of ICS.

A press release from the European Parliament includes:

The Paris climate change agreement should not leave out aviation and shipping, two sectors whose emissions are rocketing and, if left unregulated, could account for up to 40% of all global emissions by 2050, (according to a European Parliament study), said the EP delegation on Tuesday.

The Maritime Executive reports that EU Energy and Climate Commissioner Miguel Arias Canete said shipping and aviation not appearing in the most recent global climate deal draft is a “a step backwards.”

Six of the ten international shipping news alerts I received in my inbox yesterday were about shipping and aviation getting away from the climate deal. 

It’s amazing how much controversy the removal of one paragraph that doesn’t even say much of anything can have. Especially when there are much bigger issues being grappled over by the United Nations.

Just from the little bit of the purpose section quoted above, it can be seen that there are deeper issues than including the explicit mention of the shipping and aviation industries. Clarity of purpose would be nice. Exactly what are the long term goals of the global climate agreement?

There isn’t agreement on that issue. That’s probably why there are three options leading off the purpose section of the document.

A contentious area of debate is who pays to help countries that are most vulnerable to global warming. Do advanced developing countries like China and oil-rich Arab nations contribute to financial aid being shelled out by countries like the U.S.? The agreement draft doesn’t answer that. Too sensitive.

There are already U.N. agencies responsible for regulating CO2 emissions for the aviation and ocean shipping sectors: the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) and the International Maritime Organization (IMO), respectively.

Both agencies are working to reduce emissions in their respective sectors, and there’s no doubt they will work in compliance with the global climate deal made by the U.N. Maybe, just maybe, the focus should be on the bigger and more contentious issues of the global climate deal that could make the whole thing fall apart.

Source: UC Blog