MONTREAL, Canada, October 8 (Xinhua) -- The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) concluded its 37th session of its assembly on Friday at its headquarters in Montreal, making progresses on aviation emissions, safety and security.
The organization signed numerous international agreements, including cooperation agreements with regional civil aviation organizations and bodies from all regions of the world to further solidify its global influence in safest and most secure mode of mass transport in the world.
MEETING CLIMATE CHANGES
The assembly adopted a comprehensive resolution on the environment to reduce the impact of aviation emissions on climate changes, providing a roadmap for action through 2050 for the ICAO 190 members.
The resolution makes ICAO the first United Nations agency to lead a sector in the establishment of a globally harmonized agreement for addressing its CO2 emissions.
The resolution, adopted with some states expressing reservations and calling upon the ICAO Council to continue its work on specific aspects of the agreement, comes only two months before negotiations are again undertaken by these very same states at the 16th Conference of the Parties of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) meeting scheduled for December in Mexico.
"We feel that the assembly resolution and related decisions are good examples of the spirit of cooperation that can make a substantial contribution to the UNFCCC discussions," said the president of the ICAO Council, Roberto Kobeh Gonzalez.
This resolution builds on achievements since the last ICAO assembly in 2007, which included a global goal of 2 percent annual fuel efficiency improvement up to the year 2050, a global framework for the development and deployment of sustainable alternative fuels for aviation, and a target of 2013 for a CO2 standard for aircraft engines.
Additional new initiatives include the development of a framework for market-based measures (MBMs), a feasibility study on the creation of a global MBM scheme and guiding principles for member states to use when designing and implementing market-based measures for international aviation, all of which will be reviewed at the next Assembly in 2013.
Other features of the resolution include mechanisms for technology transfer to developing members; a requirement for members to submit to ICAO their action plans for reaching goals set by the organization; assistance for members to meet their respective objectives; and exemptions from market-based measures for members with very low emissions due to their small traffic base.
"This agreement demonstrates what can be achieved when parties with divergent and even conflicting views are determined to progress towards results that are in the best interest of an industry as critical to the world economy as aviation," Mr. Kobeh commented.
(by Xinhua writer Zhang Dacheng)
