As I have mentioned previously, we in the aviation industry have managed to develop a common set of proposals for consideration by the world’s governments as they deliberate on the best way to tackle the climate change challenge. The main forum for these negotiations by governments is the COP 15 climate talks in Copenhagen this December. It is not an easy task and one sympathises with the United Nations agency in charge of the talks – the UNFCCC. There are differences of opinion between the developed world and the developing world. There are differences of opinion on how to best tackle the problem. There are differences on how any effects of climate change will be paid for.
Nearly 200 countries are involved in these negotiations and, to put it mildly, the talks are a bit of a circus. Before Copenhagen, there is a last round of discussions this week in Barcelona where negotiators are going to try and whittle-down the document that currently stands at 181 pages to something more manageable before December. There are 4,000 people there.
At the main event in December, some are expecting 20,000 delegates.
Aviation makes up a very small part of this debate. But we are quite proud of the fact that we have managed to develop (and agree on) a set of ambitious targets and goals for our industry. Tomorrow a few of us from the industry will travel to Barcelona to put our case to Government delegations and non-governmental organisations. We will be explaining to them why we think our approach bears careful consideration.
Over the next few days and weeks, we will be writing about some of the issue points that will make up a large part of the discussions in Barcelona and Copenhagen – adaptation, CBDR, levies, mitigation, sectoral approaches and how ICAO is going to play its role. While it may not make for the most exciting blog material, it is actually very important… not just for the aviation industry, but also for how you will be impacted directly as passengers. Of course, if you have any questions along the road to Copenhagen, we’d be happy to try and answer them.
- Image by Flickr user Raindog
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