UN group approves standards for tracking airline emissions

A UN group is approving standards for measuring how much airlines need to reduce the growth of greenhouse-gas emissions from planes. The standards were approved Wednesday by the council of the ICAO. Under a 2016 agreement, airlines that fly international routes are to begin measuring their emissions next Jan 1. Those measurements will be used to determine how much airlines need to offset the growth in emissions. Aviation accounts only about 2% of emissions linked to climate change, but its share is growing more rapidly than many other sources. The UN group is deciding how to put into effect a plan called the Carbon Offsetting and Reduction Scheme for International Aviation that aims to freeze the level of carbon emissions from aviation at 2020 levels. <br/>