Shipping Emissions Part of New Paris Climate Draft

International shipping and aviation emissions have been reinserted into the draft Paris agreement during the five-day climate talks held in Bonn, Germany, last week.

However, the draft’s language needs to be considerably strengthened if it is to help curb the two sectors’ climate impact, according to sustainable transport group Transport & Environment.

The shipping and aviation sectors were initially exempted from targeted CO2 emissions cuts in the December Paris climate agreement, as the text issued by the Paris talks’ co-chairs on October 5 showed, T&E said.

At the end of the last week’s talks before negotiations in Paris, the proposals from all countries were compiled in a 55-page document. This will be the draft text that will form the basis of the negotiations in Paris from November 30 to December 11.

“International aviation and shipping emissions are the elephants in the room for the UNFCCC,” Bill Hemmings, clean shipping and aviation manager at T&E, said.

”The Paris Agreement must send a clear signal – not a passing reference – to the UN bodies regulating these emissions, ICAO and IMO, that time is up and action is now due. The 2 degree global warming limit becomes next to impossible if Paris gives these sectors a free pass. The latest text is the result of developed and developing countries cooperating on this issue for the first time. There is real hope now that Paris will close these gaping loopholes.”