IATA moots emissions-trading mart

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) backed the idea of emissions trading for the global airline sector and said it would propose the plan to the United Nations.

"We're very enthusiastic about global trading for the airlines industry" to reduce emissions blamed partly for global warming, Philippe Rochat, an IATA environment official, said at IATA's annual meeting, in Vancouver, Canada.

"We support the concept but only as a part of a global approach," he said, recalling that the aviation industry must work on multiple fronts to reduce its carbon-dioxide (CO2) emissions.

"We intend to propose the concept to ICAO when ICAO meets in September," he said. "We'll be pushing governments to step up investing in alternative technologies."

The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), an agency of the United Nations, is holding its annual meeting September 18-24 in Montreal.

A CO2-emissions trading market would be combined with a fuel-efficiency programme at the airlines' operating level, which according to IATA includes a maximization of air routes and a reduction in waiting times before landings.

The airline sector is banking on a 25% reduction in fuel consumption by 2020 through measures already available. With this target, the sector's emissions would rise to 3% of the global total from the current 2%.