India against carbon tax on aviation, shipping sectors

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NEW DELHI: The government has opposed moves to impose carbon tax on the aviation sector as well as the shipping industry that would make the consumer bear the burden.

Global transport accounts for about 14% of the total emissions worldwide. But the world is still undecided about whom to blame for them.

A move backed by several industrialised countries suggests that everyone who flies on international routes or uses ships for transport should pay a fee to cover the cost of greenhouse gas emissions. The EU has been threatening to unilaterally impose such a tax on flights coming in or leaving the region.

The Indian government has pointed out that the cost of capping emissions from either aviation or the shipping industry must be imposed on those who run the ships and airplanes and not on the basis of how many people fly from a country or use the ship to move goods.

For India, such a move, sources said, would be tantamount to breaking the existing global treaty which puts the burden on the industrialised countries to undertake emission reduction and not on the poor and developing countries.

The point of concern for the government is that International Civil Aviation Organisation and the International Maritime Organisation are involved in resolving the dispute. Unlike the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, where India is a crucial player along with the other G77 countries and China, and each country’s influence is equal to a single vote, the two sectoral organisations are influenced strongly by the industrialised countries.

The devil, in the case of shipping industry, they realise, lies in the way these organisations influence the UNFCCC in deciding who owns the ships that roam the oceans.

The shipping sector is peculiar because companies in industrialised countries often run their ships under what are called “flags of convenience”. They get their ships registered in small countries like Tobago and Liberia, which work as tax havens and also help circumvent other international regulations. If one was to go by the flags the ships fly, IMO has stated, poor and developing countries own 66.58% of the ships.

But if one was to go behind the veil, Indian officials said, it would become evident that 68% of the ships belonged to rich countries.

The debate is bound to see a final resolution by the end of 2009 when more than 100 member countries of the UNFCCC strike a new deal to cut emissions.