Carbon-offset deal would cost airlines US$6.2b in 2025: IATA

A global market-based measure to curb aviation emissions would cost the airline industry up to US$6.2b in the year 2025, but carriers could face higher charges if governments fail to reach a deal by October, the IATA said. Government representatives are gathering Wednesday at the UN's civil aviation agency to negotiate a draft deal on carbon-neutral growth from 2020 which is to be voted on at a fall assembly. "That of course is the result the industry is counting on," IATA CE Tony Tyler said Tuesday, in reference to a draft deal in the fall. By 2035, the deal would cost airlines up to an estimated US$24 billion, as air traffic grows, according to figures from the Montreal-based International Civil Aviation Organization, or ICAO. The cost projections are for sample years after the deal would become active in 2021. Airlines are nevertheless urging ICAO's 191-member states to reach a global agreement in the fall because the cost of a patchwork of national and regional agreements could be even higher. "A market-based cost will be much more efficient, and much fairer than the alternative which is a patchwork of inefficient and ineffective charges and taxes which are cooked up primarily just to raise cash rather than to tackle climate change," Tyler said. "We expect that the cost will be not insignificant, but it will be manageable."<br/>