14 July
2008: In his inaugural speech to the second meeting of the
International Civil Aviation Organization’s (ICAO) Group on International
Aviation and Climate Change (GIACC), Roberto Kobeh González, President of the
ICAO Council, noted the work carried out by the Organization and the UNFCCC
Secretariat in coordinating their work plans, and highlighted the importance
for the Group to agree on aspirational goals on fuel efficiency.

Emphasizing that broad support for emissions trading for aviation exists,
he suggested that the GIACC, which had convened at ICAO headquarters in
Montreal, Canada, from 14-16 July 2008, consider formulating a recommendation
to the ICAO Council on this topic. On whether to develop a global
emissions trading programme for aviation, he stated that the Organization would
benefit most from such a mechanism, which would enhance the effectiveness of the
aviation sector’s response to climate change and ICAO’s leadership in this
area. He added that such concrete steps would also improve the image of aviation,
which he said receives disproportionate negative coverage in the media despite
remarkable progress made by the industry in mitigating its climate change
impacts. Jane Hupe, ICAO Environmental Unit Chief, provided an overview of
recent environmental developments in the climate change arena, including: the
first session of the Ad Hoc Working Group on Long-term Cooperative
Action (AWGLCA 1) and the fifth session of the Ad Hoc Working Group on
Further Commitments for Annex I Parties under the Kyoto Protocol to the UN
Framework Convention on Climate Change (AWG 5), which took place from 31 March
to 4 April 2008 in Bangkok, Thailand; the twenty-eighth session of the UNFCCC Subsidiary Bodies
and Sessions of the AWGs, which took place from 2-13 June 2008, in Bonn,
Germany; the first meeting of the International Maritime Organization’s Working Group on Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Ships, which took place in Oslo, Norway, from
23-27 June 2008; and developments within the International Civil Aviation
Organization (ICAO) and the Committee on Aviation Environmental Protection,
highlighting the ICAO carbon emissions calculator. She then listed key upcoming
events on the climate agenda. Stelios Pesmajoglou, UNFCCC Secretariat,
gave a briefing on UNFCCC activities. After presenting the UNFCCC, he described
the treatment of emissions from international aviation under the UNFCCC
process. He noted that, although the Bali Action Plan and the Kyoto Protocol
process did not make specific references to emissions from international
aviation, the issue had been raised during the Bangkok and Bonn meetings and parties
had decided to consider the issue. [ICAO President of the Council’s speech]
[Recent
Environmental Developments, presentation by Jane Hupe] [Briefing on UNFCCC activities]