22 September 2009

Airlines to pledge to slash emissions

LONDON - The aviation industry will tonight make a dramatic pledge to slash carbon dioxide emissions in half by 2050, as key climate change talks get underway at the United Nations, a UK report said.

British Airways chief executive Willie Walsh will unveil an agreement between airlines, airports and aircraft companies to cut emissions to 50 percent below 2005 levels by 2050, The Guardian said.

The move, to be presented to the UN forum on climate change in New York, will force up air fares and spark a green technology race among aircraft manufacturers, according to the newspaper.

'"International aviation emissions were not included in the Kyoto Protocol 12 years ago. Now we have a chance to rectify that omission, and we must seize it," Walsh will tell UN delegates.

"Our proposals represent the most environmentally effective and practical means of reducing aviation's carbon impact.

"They are the best option for the planet and we urge the UN to adopt them."

Members of the International Air Transport Association, have also pledged to make all industry growth carbon neutral by 2020 and to cut carbon emissions by 1.5 per cent per year over the next decade.

Airlines would also leave the EU emissions trading scheme, which they are due to join in 2012, and would buy carbon permits in a global market, The Guardian said.