United Arab Emirates to Join Global Airline Emissions Accord

(Bloomberg) -- The United Arab Emirates agreed to participate in the initial phase of a proposed United Nations accord to limit emissions from international air travel.

The UAE, a key Middle East aviation hub, said Thursday on the website of the UN’s aviation agency that it would participate in the agreement beginning in 2021. It joins more than 50 other nations that have pledged support for the accord, including the U.S., China, Singapore and a majority of European countries.

If approved at a meeting beginning this month in Montreal, the deal would be the first global climate accord for a single industry. Emissions from international flights account for about 2 percent of global greenhouse gases and are forecast to more than triple over the next few decades as flights increase in Asia, Latin America and elsewhere. Airlines were largely excluded from the Paris climate accord over concerns that divvying up responsibility for international flights would derail the agreement.

To contact the reporter on this story: Joe Ryan in New York at jryan173@bloomberg.net. To contact the editors responsible for this story: Reed Landberg at landberg@bloomberg.net, Will Wade, Susan Warren