UK Shipping Carbon Budget Decision Deferred
UK Government announce its decision on international aviation and shipping emissions. Government will defer a decision on whether to include international aviation and shipping emissions in carbon budgets until the setting of the fifth carbon budget in 2016, by which point there should be more clarity on how aviation emissions will be tackled at an EU and global level. Last month, the European Commission proposed that it would suspend international aspects of the aviation EU Emissions Trading Scheme in order that progress could be made by the International Civil Aviation Organization in developing a global agreement on the treatment of aviation emissions.
Environment – UK Report Says Shipping Should be in Carbon Budgets
There is no longer any reason to exclude international aviation and shipping emissions from carbon budgets according to the Committee on Climate Change. This was the conclusion in the Committee’s report “Scope of carbon budgets – Statutory advice on inclusion of international aviation and shipping”. Emissions from international aviation and shipping were initially left out of carbon budgets and the 2050 target when the Climate Change Act became Law in 2008, with the decision on inclusion delayed to 2012. In the meantime, the Committee and the Government have acted as though international aviation and shipping emissions are in the 2050 target, based on a certain interpretation of the legislation. The risk is that a new Government would not adopt the same interpretation.
