Joint declaration of the Moscow meeting opposes inclusion of international civil aviation in the European Union Emissions Trading Scheme
Representatives of Armenia, Argentina, Republic of Belarus, Brazil, Cameroon, Chile, China, Cuba, Guatemala, India, Japan, Republic of Korea, Mexico, Nigeria, Paraguay, Russian Federation, Saudi Arabia, Seychelles, Singapore, South Africa, Thailand, Uganda and United States of America, gathered in Moscow, on 21 and 22 February 2012 and adopted the Joint Declaration below as a clear statement of their dismay at the EU’s carbon Emissions Trading Scheme introduced on 1 January 2012.
The directive requires that all non-EU-based airlines using EU airspace submit to the EU Emissions Trading Scheme which is expected to cost the aviation industry around €1.4 billion annually from 1 January this year. China and India have already instructed their airlines not to comply and the US is pushing through legislation requiring US airlines also not to comply with the EU.
The statement concludes:
(a) Unanimous opposition by the countries above to the EU and its member states for the imposition of the EU’s unilateral Directive 2008/101/EC to airlines/aircraft operators registered both in the EU and in countries outside the EU
(b) Strongly urge the EU member states to work constructively forthwith in ICAO on a multilateral approach to address international civil aviation emissions
(c) Consider taking actions/measures set forth in Attachment A to this Joint Declaration including, for example, a proceeding under Article 84 of the Chicago Convention and barring participation by their respective airlines/aircraft operators in the EU ETS
(d) Exchange information on the measures adopted and to be adopted, particularly to ensure better coordination, by each non-EU member state after this Meeting in future
(e) Continue their intensified common efforts to make progress at ICAO to address international civil aviation emissions
(f) Request the Russian Federation, on their behalf, to communicate this Joint Declaration to the EU and its member states and
(g) Invite any other State to associate itself with this Joint Declaration and, in this connection, request the Russian Federation to extend this invitation.
The declaration also makes it clear that far from opposing global aviation industry participating in a carbon emissions trading scheme, the EU should work towards a global solution such as the one proposed by the ICAO and not impose a unilateral (local tax raising) scheme. It also outlines what actions could be taken in retaliation by signatories to the declaration against the EU and its airlines.
Effectively, this would reverse what has been more than 50 years of global civil aviation co-operation since the post WWII Chicago Convention. Most worryingly from the point of view of economic recovery in the EU, there are also international threats to review major contracts with the EU such as China’s order for Airbus aircraft which would divert that contract to the US.
The potential for international retaliation and the start of a trade war isolating the EU is now a step further to reality and the EU needs to drop its local playground bully tactics and its arrogance in assuming it can apply a tax unilaterally on airlines based in sovereign states which operate in a global industry.
(Image: o_z_ge)
