Citation
Leal Filho, W. (2006), "Editorial", Management of Environmental Quality, Vol. 17 No. 4. https://doi.org/10.1108/meq.2006.08317daa.001
Publisher
:Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2006, Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Editorial
Welcome to another issue of MEQ. In this editorial I would like to discuss some trends related to aviation demand and how that links with the so-called “carbon price”.
According to a study done for the British Government, including the aviation sector in the EU’s carbon trading market will not significantly affect the price of emission allowances in the second phase of the scheme. Later this year the European commission is set to propose bringing airlines into the emission-trading scheme (ETS). The study, performed by ICF, consulting analyses the extra demand for permits from airlines in 2008-2012 and states that it will be met by an increased supply of carbon credits from industrial emission abatement programmes in Eastern Europe. Some of the demand may be catered for by extra abatement in the EU’s power sector.
The study looked at three scenarios for the ETS’s second phase, based on a study for the European Commission in 2005. Depending on uncertainties such as the timing of the German nuclear phase-out and the availability of Kyoto protocol flex-mex credits, it assumed allowance prices of €5, 11 or 21 per tonne of carbon. In all cases, “addition of the aviation sector will produce a small increase in demand for allowances and could place some upward pressure on prices in the short term”. But the study says that: “the global carbon market can adjust … without causing a detectable change in the average annual price of carbon allowances and credits”.
ICF says even this forecast is a worst-case scenario since it assumes the aviation sector will be unable to cut its own emissions cost-effectively and will have to buy reductions on the market. But in practice “abatement potential does exist within the sector and the potential for finding cost-effective options can be expected to increase over time”.
The study and its implications are clear: the aviation sector plays a vital role in the release of emissions and careful checks combined with sound policy can help to reduce its contribution to global warming, at the same time avoiding any negative economic effects.
Enjoy your reading!
Walter Leal Filho