British Airways chief executive Willie Walsh was scheduled to tell world leaders at the UN climate summit yesterday that the aviation industry could halve its carbon dioxide emissions by 2050, a spokesman for the airline said on Monday.
The International Air Transport Association (IATA) agreed to the ambitious target to cut sector emissions to 50 percent below 2005 levels by 2050 at its annual general meeting in June.
Britain’s Committee on Climate Change said this month flights could produce up to a fifth of all global carbon dioxide emissions by 2050, from about 2 percent now, without urgent and drastic action.
PHOTO: EPA
IATA says a global carbon emissions permit trading system should be introduced to encourage cuts, rather than slapping more taxes on air travel.
“Carbon trading gives airlines a direct incentive to reduce their emissions. Flight taxes, such as Air Passenger Duty, do not,” British Airways said in a statement. “Taxation guarantees no emissions reductions whatever, and does not necessarily provide any revenue for environmental objectives.”
World leaders were to meet at the UN in New York yesterday for a one-day summit to try to unlock 190-nation negotiations on a new deal to combat global warming due to be hammered out in Copenhagen in December.
IATA also agreed in June to cap carbon emissions from aviation from 2020, and aim for an average improvement in fuel efficiency of 1.5 percent per year from this year to 2020.
Meanwhile, General Electric Co and BP Plc are demanding governments enact regulations to cut emissions blamed for global warming and create a worldwide carbon market to ensure developing nations slow pollution growth.
GE, the biggest maker of power-plant equipment, and BP, Europe’s second-largest oil company, joined other multinational manufacturers and service providers demanding leaders agree to cut emissions 85 percent by 2050. They also want rules to keep developing countries from logging tropical forests and money to help the poor adapt to a warming planet.
Without a global pact, industry will suffer from “uncertainty,” the firms said in a statement that was also signed by Coca-Cola, Starbucks, BASF and Rio Tinto.
BALLPARKS TARGETED: To further reduce the use of plastic cups, the ministry is considering subsidizing the use of reusable cups at professional baseball games Beverage shops are to be banned from serving drinks in single-use plastic cups in September, the Ministry of Environment said yesterday, adding that it is also considering subsidizing the use of reusable cups at professional baseball games and other enclosed venues. Beverage shops in 21 cities and counties have already stopped using single-use takeaway plastic cups since the Parties Subject to and Means for Single-use Takeaway Beverage Cups Restrictions (一次用飲料杯限制使用對象及實施方式) were implemented on July 1, 2022, the ministry said in a statement. Aside from banning single-use plastic cups, the rules also require shops to provide reusable cups for customers to borrow and
Taiwanese athletes yesterday and on Saturday edged closer to winning a medal in a strong showing in the first two days of the Paris Olympics. Taiwanese badminton ace Tai Tzu-ying (戴資穎) defeated Belgium’s Lianne Tan in the group stage of the women’s singles yesterday. Although Tai has not played in any professional competitions in the past three months due to injuries and Olympic preparations, the Taiwanese dispatched Tan in a swift 38 minutes, winning 21-15, 21-14. It was Tai’s third consecutive career victory over Tan. The 30-year-old Taiwanese was next to play longtime friend and rival, Thailand’s Ratchanok Intanon, in the group stage. Per Olympic
GOING SUPER: The government granted four Taiwanese teams free access to use Taipei-1, a supercomputer built by Nvidia, to help develop AI technologies and products Advanced Micro Devices Inc (AMD) is to set up a research and development (R&D) center in Taiwan with research teams targeting several advanced technologies, including silicon photonics, artificial intelligence (AI) and heterogeneous integration, a Ministry of Economic Affairs official said on Saturday. An AMD application for the ministry’s A+ global R&D and innovation partnership program was approved this month, granting a more than 30 percent subsidy, or NT$3.31 billion (US$100.82 million), of the company’s total NT$8.64 billion investment, the ministry’s Web site showed. AMD, a US-based central processing unit (CPU) producer and AI chip giant, would invest NT$5.33 billion, while 50 percent
SEVEN-YEAR TERM: Three other defendants were found guilty and sentenced in the trial over legislative office salaries, while a fourth was found not guilty of all charges Anne Kao (高虹安) yesterday was sentenced to seven years and four months in prison and suspended as Hsinchu mayor after the Taipei District Court found her guilty of contravening the Anti-Corruption Act (貪污治罪條例) and the Criminal Code. The court also deprived Kao of her civil rights for four years and she was suspended from office by the Ministry of the Interior. Article 78 of the Local Government Act (地方制度法) stipulates that a mayor of a special municipality will be suspended from office if they are found guilty of contravening the Anti-Corruption Act. Kao was accused of taking for her own use more than