Significance of the European Unions Policy on Aviation Emissions - Essay Example

Significance of the European Union’s Policy on Aviation Emissions Effects of climate change are a major concern in every country around the world. Efforts have been put in place to reduce any harm that may be caused by climate change due to greenhouse gas emissions. Policies have been formulated to regulate greenhouse gas emissions and find alternative sources of energy other those that emit greenhouse gas. Kyoto Protocol has been developed to help in reducing greenhouse gas emissions around the world. The protocol is an agreement that legally binds all signatories of the Kyoto Protocol. The agreement was negotiated in 1997 and by the year 2005, 156 countries had confirmed the agreement (European Union Committee 2006, p.10). Air transport is very vital in the current world and has many crucial functions in the modern society. It facilitates both economic and cultural exchanges around the world. It is an important source of employment and growth in many regions of the world. Recently, aviation has also been put in the list of contributors to global climate change. Its contribution to global climate change is increasing. Other contributors to global climate change include the following industrial sectors: factories making glass, lime, cement, ceramics, brick, paper and pulp, combustion plants, coke ovens, oil refineries and iron and steel plants (European Union Committee 2006, p.10). It is estimated that international aviation emissions increased by approximately 100 percent between the year 1990 and 2006. Although much has been in the aviation industry to reduce the emissions, the efforts have not been enough to neutralise the effects and there is a high possibility of the emissions increasing in the future. The European Union has taken major steps in reducing the climate impacts of aviation. The union has introduced a legislation to include the aviation in the EU emissions trading scheme (EU ETS) (European Commission Climate Action 2010, p.1). The introduction of the legislation was done in partnership with the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO). The legislation proposed the following things in an attempt to reduce the small but growing aviation contribution to climate change. From 1 January 2012, a cap will be set by the European Union on CO2 emissions for all planes departing or arriving at the Union. The cap will be set first at 97 percent of the average greenhouse gases that were emitted between 2004 and 2006 for the year 2012 and then it will be lowered to 95 percent. Approximately 85 percent of the emissions allowance will be allocated for free to the airlines and only 15 percent will be auctioned off (EurActiv.com 2010, p.1). All these proposals are geared towards reducing the aviation emissions by a greater percentage. The policy will help a lot in reducing the effects of aviation greenhouse gas emissions on the climate. Although not much of the effects are felt now, aviation emissions are expected to increase in the coming decades. It is estimated that currently the international aviation accounts for around two to three percent of the total global greenhouse gas emissions. Among the transport modes present, aviation has the greatest climate impact. The carbon emitted is directly linked to fuel consumption by these transport modes. Majority of the transport systems in the world use fossil fuels. Statistics show that for every litre of jet fuel burnt, carbon dioxide emitted in the air is around 2.5 kilograms. This is a high figure presently and if it is expected to increase in the coming years, measures need to be put in place to alleviate the effects. The effects according to the European Union can be alleviated by developing new greener technologies such as cleaner fuels and cleaner aircraft engines, coming up with more efficient flight procedures and air traffic management systems, and inclusion of air carriers by 2012 into the existing European Union Emissions Trading System. These are some of the measures to be adopted by the European Union. According to some impact assessments done, the integration of aviation into the European Union Emissions Trading Scheme will have little or no impact in the reduction of aviation emissions. An assessment done by Ernst & Young show that even under the toughest scenarios, emissions would grow by 83 percent by the year 2020 rather than 86 percent in the business as usual scenario. The assessment was commissioned by the aviation industry. Another assessment done by European Commission Impact Assessment shows that aviation emissions will be reduced by about 3 percent. Meaning it would only offset one year growth of the aviation sector emissions. The reason behind the predicted small change in the reduction of aviation emissions is that the carbon prices in the aviation system will be approximately 15 Sterling pounds per each tonne. The amount is significant for the steel mills, power plants and other carbon emitters. The amount is insignificant for the 3.8 cents per litre for the fuel used by aircrafts. However, the aviation industry has made objectives to improve fuel efficiency by approximately 50 percent by the year 2020 (European Federation for Transport and Environment 2008, p.6). This means that to alleviate the effects, the concerned parties need to put more effort on the matter. There are a number of factors that may make the process of alleviating aviation emissions effects difficult. There is no concept that exists for assigning trans-national greenhouse gases emissions to a particular country. There is little agreement that exists on certain specific policies between nations. The lack of a price on carbon is hampering the aviation mitigation strategies. In the future, businesses and consumers are likely not face any financial cost associated with aviation greenhouse gases emissions. This means that consumers and businesses will not take into account the cost of greenhouse gases emission when making decisions related to investments in new technology and travel decisions. There are high levels of risks in research and development and this may come with high capital costs and a significant investment risk. Many firms fear venturing into development of new technologies due to the unknown costs and risks associated with it. Getting new technology means that the aviation firms need to invest a lot of money to cover the risks and costs associated with the development of the technologies. Many aviation mitigation strategies are entirely dependent on government support and regulation. Dependency on the government for support and regulation will slow down the implementation of the policy. This means the government has to use a considerable proportion of the money used in reducing the levels of greenhouse gas emissions in other sectors of the economy. References EurActiv.com. (2010) EU Sees Aviation Deal as Green Light for Emissions Trading. [Online]. Available at: http://www.euractiv.com/en/climate-environment/eu-sees-aviation-deal-green-light-emissions-trading-news-498688 (Accessed: 10 November 2010). European Commission Climate Action. (2010) Aviation and Climate Change. [Online]. Available at: http://ec.europa.eu/clima/policies/aviation/index_en.htm (Accessed: 10 November 2010). European Federation for Transport and Environment, 2008, Including Aviation in the EU’s Emissions Trading Scheme (EU ETS), European Federation for Transport and Environment, Bruxelles. European Union Committee, 2006, Including the Aviation Sector in the European Union Emissions Trading Scheme, European Union Committee, London. Read More