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Tough talking CATA repeats ETS stance
March 1st 2013
China will not accept the European Commission’s emissions trading scheme (ETS) under any circumstances, the secretary general of the China Air Transport Association (CATA), Wei Zhenzhong, told the Greener Skies conference. Read More »
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| Wei Zhenzhong, secretary general, China Air Transport Association: China will never participate in any EU ETS scheme |
While welcoming Europe’s decision to “stop the clock” on the ETS, Wei said China would not back down from its original stance, which would not recognize the ETS if the clock was re-started.
“The air transport enterprises in China will strictly follow the instructions of the CAAC (Civil Aviation Administration of China) on prohibiting Chinese carriers from participating in the EU ETS,” he told the conference.
“They will not be involved in the EU ETS, nor submit any data to the EU, nor pay for any emission quotas. We have not changed our stand of opposing any unilateral action by EU. We welcome the decision of ‘stopping the clock’, but we will never accept any additional conditions.”
His tough words not only reflected the views of China’s major airlines, they echo the stance of the Beijing government.
The CATA chief stressed China was committed to tackling climate change and had introduced a number of wide-ranging initiatives in recent years.
Wei said the CAAC had set up a team to lead energy-saving and emission-reduction efforts. Its goal is to reduce both energy consumption and carbon dioxide emissions per ton kilometre in the aviation industry in China to 22% lower than 2005 levels.
He said significant gains had been made. In 2012, by optimizing airspace, eliminating congestion and taking more direct routes, China’s aviation industry had reduced flight distances by 14 million kilometres, cut carbon dioxide emissions by 240,000 tons and saved 540 million yuan (US$86.3 million) in fuel costs.
The aviation industry had always believed the problem of emissions reduction in international aviation should be dealt with under the UN framework convention on climate change within the multilateral framework of ICAO, said Wei.
“We are against unilateral action by anybody, against linking unilateral measures with multilateral processes and against laying preconditions for multilateral processes. Only by reaching unanimity through consultations in the process of policy formulation is it possible to minimize opposition and costs and to make further emission reduction work more efficient.
“We hope that the European Union will take a correct approach towards this stance and the concerns of other countries in opposing its unilateral inclusion of international aviation in its ETS scheme, put a complete stop to its execution and come back to the road of multilateral consultations so as to solve the problem of aviation emission through common efforts.”
