August 2008: The International Civil Aviation Organization
(ICAO) has made a written submission to the third Session of the Ad Hoc Working Group on Long-term
Cooperative Action under the Convention (AWG-LCA), which is taking place in
Accra, Ghana, from 21-27 August 2008. The submission includes a presentation of
ICAO’s past and current work in reducing emissions from aircrafts and the
current international legal regime.

It contains a summary of 36th Session of
the ICAO Assembly, which was held in September 2007, when a plan of action was
adopted comprising, inter alia: the
development of policy options to limit or reduce the environmental impact of
aircraft engine emissions and the provision of advice to the UNFCCC Conference
of the Parties on technical solutions and market-based measures; and the
formation of the Group on International Aviation and Climate Change (GIACC) in
January 2008 to develop and recommend to ICAO a Programme of Action on
International Aviation and Climate Change.
It then highlights future work in
the field of environmental protection, such as market-based measures, the ICAO
Carbon Calculator, and cooperation with other UN agencies. The ICAO concludes
by stressing the need to define a clear baseline, an objective and timelines to
calculate emissions reductions, and for timely data on the current and future
growth prospects of aviation emissions.
ICAO also states that a global
framework encompassing a basket of measures of a technological, operational and
market-based nature will be required to effectively reduce emissions from
aviation, and that these measures are being considered by the GIACC and will be
part of the Programme of Action to be presented to the climate conference in
Copenhagen in 2009. [The Submission]