Getting to Global Cooperation: ICAO and Climate Change
The success of international aviation has not been without cost. As the sector continues to achieve unyielding growth rates, concerns over its environmental impact have risen in tandem. Although ICAO has discussed environmental protection in connection with aviation since the 1970s, climate change issues are relatively new. Ever since the Kyoto Protocol entrusted the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) to handle GHG emissions from international aviation, the organization has been at the center of the storm.
This chapter seeks to explore ICAO¹s involvement in climate change issues, its merits and shortcomings, as well as to identify better ways for the organization to handle GHG emissions from international aviation, in particular bearing in mind the recent agreement to develop a global MBM scheme. Understanding the constraints under which ICAO operates is central to determining its limitations and establish realistic corrective actions to facilitate not only its adoption and implementation, but more importantly, participation in ICAO¹s global MBM.
