GENERAL

FCCC/SBSTA/1999/INF.9

22 October 1999

ENGLISH ONLY

SUBSIDIARY BODY FOR SCIENTIFIC AND TECHNOLOGICAL ADVICE

Eleventh session

Bonn, 25 October - 5 November 1999

Item 9 (c) of the provisional agenda

1. The Subsidiary Body for Scientific and Technological Advice (SBSTA), at its tenth session, invited the secretariat to explore ways to further strengthen the exchange of information between the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), the International Maritime Organization (IMO) and the SBSTA. It requested the secretariat to report to it on these issues at its eleventh session (FCCC/SBSTA/1999/6, para. 46 (e)).

2. To respond to the above mandate, preliminary discussions were held on several occasions between the secretariats of ICAO, IMO and UNFCCC. Various ways to strengthen the exchange of information were discussed as described below.

3. The SBSTA may wish to consider the information provided in this paper and determine whether the suggested approaches are appropriate and/or whether additional steps should be taken to further strengthen the exchange of information between the three secretariats.

BNJ.99-058

4. At the invitation of the SBSTA, the ICAO and IMO secretariats agreed to provide regular progress reports on their activities relating to emissions based on fuel sold to ships or aircraft engaged in international transport to the SBSTA. These progress reports may include information on the activities of ICAO, its Committee on Aviation Environmental Protection (CAEP) and its working groups, and on the work of IMO, in particular its Marine Environment Protection Committee (MEPC). Both organizations agreed to provide their schedules of meetings and agendas.

5. Representatives of ICAO and IMO are routinely invited to the SBSTA meetings. Discussions with both organizations have focused on how representatives of the UNFCCC process, that is the Chairman of the SBSTA, one of the other officers or the secretariat, might be invited to relevant meetings of ICAO and IMO.

6. A representative of the UNFCCC will be invited to participate in the 44^th meeting of the Marine Environment Protection Committee, to be held from 6 to13 March 1999. Air pollution is a permanent item on the agenda of this committee. Official UNFCCC documents prepared for SBSTA sessions could be submitted to the Committee for information purposes.

7. In the case of ICAO, relevant meetings could include the Assembly (the next meeting being in late 2001), the Committee on Aviation Environmental Protection (which usually meets every three or four years), its steering group (which usually meets once a year) and its working groups (each of which usually meets two or three times per year), notably the working group on market-based options (WG5), which is considering emissions charges, fuel taxes, emissions trading and voluntary agreements. The UNFCCC secretariat requested observer status for these meetings, but has not yet received a reply.

8. During SBSTA 10, several delegates mentioned the possibility of establishing a joint working group between ICAO and/or IMO and the SBSTA similar to the model of the joint working group between IPCC and the SBSTA,⁽¹⁾ to meet on the margins of ICAO, IMO or UNFCCC meetings.

9. There was general agreement that this option should be kept under consideration, but that the level of activities between ICAO, IMO and UNFCCC is less than that between IPCC and UNFCCC. It was felt that the idea of a formal joint working group should be delayed until substantive progress is made. However, consultations between the Chairman of the SBSTA or one of the other officers could be held with relevant officials of ICAO or IMO during meetings identified above.

10. Another possible way to strengthen the exchange of information may be a joint workshop between the SBSTA, ICAO and/or IMO on international bunker fuels or a side event at a UNFCCC meeting. A workshop or side event could help to further inform delegates to the UNFCCC about the progress reports on ICAO and/or IMO activities or provide an opportunity to influence the design of projects and programmes in these organizations.

11. In the discussions between the ICAO, IMO and UNFCCC secretariats, it was felt that a workshop could be useful when significant progress has been made by ICAO and IMO on this issue, most likely late in 2001. A side event focusing on plans and progress could be arranged during a future session of the SBSTA.

12. During the discussions between the ICAO, IMO and UNFCCC secretariats, the issue of available data on international bunker fuels was discussed.

13. ICAO does not collect or estimate greenhouse gas emissions from global civil aviation. It operates a statistics programme that collects comprehensive data from States on a systematic basis. In accordance with the mandate of ICAO, the statistics programme covers civil aviation, but not military aviation. Its main focus is on commercial air transport operations, with less emphasis placed on other forms of civil aviation. For each State, ICAO collects a wide range of data, including a number of indicators relating to commercial air transport activity, such as tonne-kilometres available (measure of capacity offered) and tonne-kilometres performed (measure of traffic carried). In addition, flight schedules of all airlines are available. It is conceivable that some of these measures of aviation activity could be used as a component in estimating emissions.

14. For the purpose of a study entitled "Regional Differences in Fares, Rates and Costs for International Air Transport" by ICAO, flight schedules and estimates of fuel consumption by aircraft type for different stage lengths are used to calculate the fuel consumed. Resulting fuel consumption only covers scheduled operations, therefore underestimating fuel use in regions such as Europe, where non-scheduled operations are significant.

15. In addition, within the Committee on Aviation Environmental Protection, the results of two studies were compared, which estimated aviation emissions and their geographical distribution in longitude, latitude and altitude. No attempt had been made to distinguish between countries or between national and international emissions. Most of the work has been undertaken in the United States of America and in Europe. These studies are summarized in chapter 9 of the IPCC Special Report on Aviation and the Global Atmosphere.

16. IMO does not undertake any systematic collection or monitoring of the fuel consumed or greenhouse gases emitted by the world fleet.

17. IMO has a work programme to monitor the sulphur content of marine bunker fuels worldwide in accordance with regulation 14 (2) of MARPOL Annex VI and the guidelines for such monitoring have been adopted. Worldwide sulphur monitoring has been initiated and it is expected that the Marine Environment Protection Committee will receive the outcome of the monitoring in future sessions.

18.

MARPOL Annex VI, once it enters into force, will require ships to keep onboard the bunker delivery note which should include information on the quantity and quality of fuels delivered. The bunker delivery note will be required to be kept for three years for inspection by port and flag States, but there is no mechanism established to collect such information centrally. The bunker delivery notes may provide useful information on consumption of marine bunker fuels worldwide but the above-mentioned Committee has not discussed this issue.

1. The joint working group of IPCC and SBSTA officers meets two to three times a year, typically on the margins of a UNFCCC or IPCC meeting. These meetings are usually devoted to exchange of information on the status of reports and plans for upcoming meetings of both organizations.