India has given its approval for ratification of the Paris agreement on climate change, but put its foot down on a cap on carbon emissions in the civil aviation sector. The stand taken by India is that it cannot commit to reducing emissions in this sector as it would affect the economy. Although emissions in the civil aviation sector are not included in the Paris agreement, the ongoing assembly of the International Civil Aviation Organisation is discussing a proposal to cut the footprint of the sector. The mechanism for putting this into practice is a ‘carbon emission tax’ which India believes would place an additional burden on the sector which is yet to find firm footing. What is not clear is how taxation would help reduce emissions. Also, since aircrafts fly over airspace of several countries regulation of the tax regime would be difficult and problematic. The aviation sector is growing at 4-5 per cent a year and now produces between 3 to 8 percent of the world’s emissions. There is definitely a need to curb emissions, but until a clear path to this goal is drawn, there will be problems reaching it. India needs to ensure that the economy is not affected but cannot ignore emissions altogether.
