The Climate Change Equation

Abstract

The Fifth Assessment Report of the Inter Governmental Panel on Climate Change advised that in 2010, 14% of all greenhouse gas emissions was from the transport sector. Aviation produces around 2% of the world’s manmade emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2) which, according to the IPCC, will rise to 3% by 2050 if not checked. The air transport sector is a rapidly growing force and measures to mitigate aircraft engine emissions continue to be the main focus of the aviation community. Substantial technological, economic, infrastructural changes would be needed to attempt reaching the target of the 2015 Paris Agreement of an increase in 2° centigrade (and ideally 1.5c) warming against pre-industrial levels. In the air transport sector, there have been two mechanisms considered under carbon pricing to reach zero carbon growth by 2020: An Emissions Trading Scheme advocated by the European Union, as an answer to which ICAO has come up with a Carbon Offsetting and Reduction Scheme for International Aviation (CORSIA) (which in and of itself is and emissions trading scheme) on the one hand, and a carbon tax (proposed by many) on the other hand. This chapter analyses the pros and cons of both CORSIA and the carbon tax through the arguments of various proponents of the two mechanisms.