26 Nations (including the US and China) Defy Europe on Airline Emissions

[pampango]

http://green.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/11/02/26-nations-defy-europe-on-airline-emissions/

China, the United States and 24 other nations backed a declaration on Wednesday urging that their airlines be exempted from the European Union’s Emissions Trading System.

The move at the International Civil Aviation Organization, an arm of the United Nations, is another challenge to environmental leadership by the European Union, which has failed in its efforts to get some of the biggest polluters in the developed world to adopt crucial parts of its agenda for tackling climate change. The declaration said the European directive was “inconsistent with applicable international law” and that the signatory nations would work together to oppose it.

Connie Hedegaard, the European Union’s commissioner for climate action, defended the European emissions plan and faulted the other countries for failing to address the greenhouse gas issue. “Unfortunately, I.C.A.O. has missed again today the opportunity to tell the world when it will table a viable global solution,” she said.

Pamela Campos, an attorney with the Environmental Defense Fund who attended the meeting in Montreal, said the declaration was no more than “a political expression of a group of countries that their airlines aren’t happy about having to comply with pollution controls.”

A blow to "environmental leadership by the European Union" perhaps - but it's not as if another party is trying to assume the lead on environmental issues. Alternative proposals or tweaks to the EU's proposal would be welcome but, unfortunately, are not so far forthcoming.

[dtexdem]

1. So don't let American and Chinese airlines fly into or out of Europe.

Why don't calls for sanctions never target the U.S.? ;-)