Climate impacts from international aviation and shipping

The international aviation and shipping sectors contribute significantly to climatic change and air pollution. Until now, however, Parties to the United Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) have not been able to agree on a methodology to assign responsibility for greenhouse gas emissions from these sectors. The study provides an overview on recent policy developments en scientific assessment on the development of greenhouse gas emissions from international aviation and shipping. For aviation an update of scientific findings since the 1999 IPCC Special Report on Aviation and the Global Atmosphere is provide. Furthermore allocation options are presented and development of mitigation policies at global and EU levels for aviation and shipping is shown. In addition, the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) and the International Maritime Organization (IMO) have not been able to agree on any action to ensure effective implementation of mitigation policies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from international aviation and shipping. However, both ICAO and IMO are investigating several policy options. These options may have implications for monitoring and reporting requirements as well as for the allocation of responsibility for international climate emissions from both sectors. It is for this reason that the present report focuses broadly on all these issues.

Authors: Wit R ; Kampman B ; Boon B ; Velthoven P van ; Meijer E ; Olivier JGJ ; Lee DS - Wit R ; Kampman B ; Boon B (eds)

Project leader: R. Wit

To the report