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The CO2 emissions from ships and aircraft are difficult to regulate because they mostly travel across national borders
Photo: Songphol Thesakit / Getty Images
Airlines and shipping companies have long in fact refused to protect the climate - that is why they are more criticized than the car industry, which generates more emissions.
Aviation and shipping were also often ignored at the UN climate conferences because they were not directly covered by the Paris Agreement.
In Glasgow they are now moving into the center.
An overview of important questions:
How much CO2 do ships and aircraft emit?
Aviation and shipping each account for two to three percent of global emissions, a little more than Germany emits.
Ships transport 90 percent of all goods in world trade.
In the case of airplanes, many studies assume greater damage to the climate, among other things because they emit emissions at high altitudes.
The problem: Both sectors are likely to grow enormously over the next few decades.
This is why the share of global CO2 emissions threatens to rise rapidly - which puts the climate targets at risk.
Why were air and shipping traffic excluded from the Paris Agreement?
The 2015 Paris Climate Protection Agreement, which aims to limit global warming to well below two degrees, allows each country to derive its own emission reduction targets.
But when a container ship travels from Shanghai to Hamburg or an airplane flies from Munich to Singapore, the question arises as to where the CO2 emissions should be billed.
Half half?
The delegates could not agree.
The dispute over this already started in Kyoto - that was in 1997.
Why did almost nothing happen for so long?
It has to do with who was responsible for the problem.
In Kyoto, the climate conference commissioned two UN sub-organizations to deal with the matter.
The ICAO is responsible for air traffic, the IMO for shipping.
Both are cumbersome and don't have the best reputation.
"Although governments officially vote on measures there, representatives of both sectors have a great influence and sometimes even write the texts that are put to the vote," says Martin Cames from the Öko-Institut.
For two decades there was almost a standstill.
Can the industries even be committed to climate protection?
“It is true that shipping and air transport are not directly covered by the Paris Agreement.
But they are already recorded because the targets include all emissions caused by humans and the limitation of global warming would otherwise not be achievable at all, «says Cames, who has participated in many UN climate conferences.
"Without a change of direction, the CO2 emissions of both sectors would increase massively over the next few decades," says Felix Creutzig from the Mercator Research Institute on Global Commons and Climate Change (MCC).
Growing prosperity leads to more flights and more consumption of goods that are shipped around the world.
So a reduction path is needed for both sectors.
This is only slowly emerging.
What climate goals are there now - and what do they bring?
Under pressure from customers and climate protectors, shipping companies and airlines want the governments to set the goal of reducing emissions in their sectors to zero by 2050.
The two world associations ICS and IATA announced this before the climate conference in Glasgow.
It's not official yet, but it would be a big leap.
"So far, the official targets are not compatible with the implied specifications from the Paris Agreement, for example because the very relevant non-CO2-related global warming effects of air traffic are not taken into account," says Creutzig.
So far, too little has happened in both sectors to close the climate gap.
Shipping also emits a significant proportion of global nitrogen oxide and sulfur dioxide emissions.
What exactly was decided in Glasgow?
Air traffic
: 15 countries form an "International Aviation Climate Ambition Coalition" and want to sign the zero emissions target by 2050, including the USA, Great Britain, France, Spain and Turkey.
The alliance's statement states that the number of air passengers is expected to increase significantly over the next 30 years.
The alliance therefore wants to rely on climate-friendly fuels and compensation systems.
Germany wobbled, was initially not there when the announcement was made, but now wants to join "within the usual deadlines," according to the executive federal government.
Shipping
: 20 countries, including Germany, want to set up “climate-neutral routes” between different ports in the next few years, on which only ships that do not emit CO2 can travel.
The agreement, named after the Glasgow River Clyde, initially provides for six such routes, with "many more" to be added by 2030.
The entire retail chain is to be decarbonised.
The USA, France, Italy, the Netherlands and the Scandinavian countries are participating.
In addition, 55 countries that are particularly threatened by global warming are calling for a maritime CO2 tax.
What do the critics say?
Aviation
:
Too little, too late
- too few measures and they come too late.
In order to stop global warming, flights would have to be reduced and climate-friendly ways of traveling would have to be strengthened, believes Greenpeace.
"This announcement is full of frauds such as compensation payments and excessive hopes for sustainable fuels and future aircraft designs," said a spokeswoman.
Shipping
: "The establishment of climate-neutral shipping corridors is a necessary first step in the transformation," said Ingrid Irigoyen from the Aspen Institute, referring to the "freight owners" who, like Amazon, Ikea and Unilever, are already calling for more climate protection in sea transport.
In 2040 they want to ship their goods around the world in a climate-neutral way.
Which climate protection instruments already exist?
Air traffic
: Within Europe, airlines have to pay for their CO2 emissions because air traffic is part of the emissions trading scheme (EU ETS). However, the pollution rights are partly free. "The system indirectly lowers emissions because the number of these certificates is limited and other sectors such as the energy industry can cut CO2 emissions more cheaply," explains Cames. The bottom line is that emissions in air traffic before Corona continued to rise, which is why, for example, more short-haul flights should be shifted to rail.
Worldwide, the new Corsia system is intended to cap the increase in emissions from air traffic in the future, but only on paper. "The idea is that the additional CO2 emissions are subject to a tax - just as passengers can also offset their CO2 emissions," says Creutzig. The money then flows into climate protection projects around the world. “The program hardly cuts emissions when flying.” The industry is currently referring primarily to new engines that burn less kerosene than in the past.
Shipping
: New ships have to meet certain efficiency standards for fuel consumption, which should reduce CO2 emissions.
From 2023, new rules will also apply to the fleet that is already in operation.
In order to save fuel and reduce CO2 emissions, giant containers often simply drive more slowly than in the past.
In the near future, shipping companies should also pay into the European emissions trading scheme like the airlines.
The exact design is still unclear.
The industry itself has also proposed a levy on fuel to raise $ 500 million annually for the research and development of climate-friendly types of propulsion.
That would mean a surcharge of two dollars per ton of fuel.
However, implementation is making slow progress.
And how do ships and aircraft become climate neutral?
Electric drives are an option on short journeys, but not on longer routes.
The first battery-powered ferry has just been commissioned; even small aircraft can take off electrically.
In addition, both sectors are relying on new climate fuels.
E-fuels produced with green electricity, for example, have the advantage that they can already be used in common aircraft turbines today.
Airbus also wants to develop hydrogen jets.
There is also a lot of discussion in the shipping industry about ammonia and methanol as eco-fuels.
To compensate for the higher costs, CO2 taxes on fossil fuels are being discussed so that the switch pays off.
So far, kerosene is about tax-free.
"It is technically possible to decarbonise both sectors by 2050," says MCC expert Creutzig, "but some willing countries must now take the lead."
