Aviation: don’t tax us to fund non-aviation related environmental programmes

The International Civil Aviation Organization’s (ICAO) governing council has urged regulators not to use taxes raised from the aviation industry for non-aviation related environmental schemes.
At a recent meeting, the 36-state governing council adopted a formal declaration calling on the overall ICAO group and member states to express a serious concern, through the United Nations (UN) Framework Convention on Climate Change, about the potential of using aviation as a source for financing environmental programmes in other industries.
ICAO council president Olumuyiwa Benard Aliu said: “There have been a number of calls for global air transport revenues to be taxed by states for use in non-aviation-related climate change mitigation programmes.
“The ICAO Council, through this declaration, wished to stress very clearly in advance of [UN climate change conference] COP21 that this is an unfair approach and one which is ultimately counter-productive given the historic and exemplary environmental performance of our sector and the significant socio-economic benefits it brings to states and regions all over the world.”
The council declaration will be communicated by ICAO to the COP21 conference in Paris starting on December 7, which is expected to adopt an outcome with legal force applicable to all parties.
The council also confirmed the measures it and member states are taking to reduce aviation’s environmental impact.
These include operational improvements in air traffic management to reduce fuel burn, a CO₂ Standard for new aircraft by 2016, alternative fuels development, states’ action plans to aid in aviation emissions reduction, and it finalising work on a global market-based measure (MBM) scheme for international aviation from 2020.
Global Shippers’ Forum secretary general Chris Welsh expresses his views on how aviation should pay for its environmental impact in the next issue of Air Cargo News. Click here for a free digital subscription.