P 151722Z DEC 06
FM AMEMBASSY BERLIN
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 6437
INFO RUCNMEM/EU MEMBER STATES COLLECTIVE
RUCNFRG/FRG COLLECTIVE
RUEHBR/AMEMBASSY BRASILIA 0256
RUEHBU/AMEMBASSY BUENOS AIRES 0187
RUEHBY/AMEMBASSY CANBERRA 0637
RUEHMO/AMEMBASSY MOSCOW 1684
RUEHNE/AMEMBASSY NEW DELHI 0476
RUEHOT/AMEMBASSY OTTAWA 0944
RUEHUL/AMEMBASSY SEOUL 0498
RUEHKO/AMEMBASSY TOKYO 1354
RUEHWL/AMEMBASSY WELLINGTON 0225
RUEHMT/AMCONSUL MONTREAL 0040

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 BERLIN 003519 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
MONTREAL FOR ICAO 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: EAIR ECON SENV GM
SUBJECT: GERMAN POSITION ON EU EMISSIONS TRADING AND 
INTERNATIONAL AVIATION 
 
REF: STATE 190254 
 
TEXT IS SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED.  NOT FOR INTERNET 
DISTRIBUTION. 
 
¶1.  (SBU) SUMMARY.  Per action request in reftel, post has 
discussed points with a broad range of German officials in 
the Foreign Office, Ministry of Environment, Economic 
Ministry, Transportation Ministry, and the Bundestag.  All 
contacts noted the Environment Ministry has the lead on this 
issue within the German government and is its most active 
supporter.  That said, the German government has not taken a 
position on the inclusion of non-EU carriers in the emissions 
trading scheme and officials argue they needed to see what 
emerged from the commission before they could react 
officially.  Foreign Ministry officials also came across as 
positively inclined towards including non-EU countries in the 
proposed EU emissions trading scheme.  Chancellery officials 
stated they and the Economic Ministry are the most opposed. 
Lufthansa opposes including civil aircraft in the ETS unless 
it is on a global basis and its chairman has publicly noted 
there are other, more effective means to reduce greenhouse 
gas emissions, e.g., new aircraft technology, changes to 
flight plans, and especially changes to the European air 
traffic control system.  Contacts emphasized the formal 
unveiling of the EU's proposal on aircraft emissions December 
20 will signify only the beginning of the discussions on this 
issue.  German officials, as well as key parliamentarians, do 
not expected it to be adopted immediately and all are 
amenable to dealing with this issue within the framework of 
the ICAO.  END SUMMARY. 
 
¶2.  (SBU) On December 2, Econoffs met with Dr. Michael 
Witter, MFA Deputy Director General for International 
Economics and Hans-Peter Hofmann, MFA Office Director for 
Environmental Affairs.  Hofmann confirmed the issue is a 
priority for Germany, adding that within the government, the 
Environment Ministry has the lead on this proposal.  Hofmann 
and Witter expressed strong support for the idea of including 
airlines in emissions trading, showing a position more in 
line with the Environment Ministry than with other parts of 
the German government.  EMIN also raised the issue with 
Chancellery Deputy Director General for International 
Economic and Financial Issues Johannes Kindler on November 
¶30.  He said the German government is divided on the idea 
with the Chancellery and Economic Ministry among the 
strongest opponents and the Environment Ministry very much in 
favor of the measure.  Economics Minister Glos made public 
comments on December 4 questioning the economic sense of 
including only European airplane emissions into the European 
Emissions Trading Scheme. 
 
¶3.  (SBU) Econoff conveyed reftel points December 5 to 
Ministry of Environment Office Director for European Union 
Affairs Norbert Gorissen, Office Director for Cooperation 
with OECD Member States Bert-Axel Szelinski, Meike Soeker 
from the Office of Legal Issues and Dirk Weinreich from the 
Environment and Energy Division.  The officials expressed 
strong support for including airlines in emissions trading. 
Gorissen asserted the concept fits with the Chancellor's 
interest in advancing efforts to combat climate change during 
the German EU Presidency.  He said there has been rapid 
growth in airline emissions in recent years and it is time to 
act.  He also noted other EU members share this desire to 
expand the emissions trading system and Germany has an 
obligation as EU president to advance the priorities of 
member states.  It would be remiss of Germany, he continued, 
not to address the issue during its EU Presidency. 
 
¶4.  (SBU) Responding to the suggestion that airline emissions 
be handled within ICAO, Weinreich and Soeker said Germany has 
been trying to promote airline emissions trading within the 
ICAO Committee on Aviation Environmental Protection but 
claimed there has been little progress.  They said they would 
welcome addressing the issue in ICAO and asked for U.S. 
suggestions on how to advance the discussion.  Ministry of 
Environment officials agreed they did not want to see U.S.-EU 
disagreement on airline emissions trading "boil over" and 
suggested more bilateral discussion on ways to reduce 
emissions.  They noted they would not see the EU Commission 
proposal until December 20 and could not yet say how the plan 
would handle non-EU airlines.  While emphasizing this topic 
is important to Germany, they also observed it is unlikely a 
final ruling would be reached during the 2007 German 
Presidency.  Environment Ministry officials indicated the 
priority for Germany is introducing the issue during its 
Presidency to signal its seriousness in addressing climate 
change. 
 
¶5.  (SBU) On December 12, EMIN met with Klaus Lippold (CDU), 
Chairman of the Transportation Committee of the Bundestag. 
Lippold said he expects the EU to present plans for the 
inclusion of aircraft emissions in the European emissions 
trading regime on December 20.  However, he stressed this 
would only be the beginning of deliberations and would by no 
means be the last word.  Lippold predicts the EU decision 
making process will take two to three years.  He does not 
expect the EU to bypass ongoing discussions in the ICAO on 
this issue.  While Lippold does not personally support this 
proposal, he sees the establishment of an EU emissions 
trading system for aircraft in some form as "unstoppable;" 
the EU Parliament, Commission and Council of Ministers have 
all backed it too strongly to abandon it now.  Lippold 
supports a plan that is global in scope, not unilateral, and 
is as efficient and unbureaucratic as possible.  Lippold 
concluded by saying the main goal of this proposal is to 
reduce CO2 emissions; if other means are found, e.g., through 
the use of alternative, cleaner fuels, this proposal may 
prove moot. 
 
¶6.  (U) Lufthansa CEO, Wolfgang Mayrhuber, spoke publicly on 
the issue November 30, saying he supports using more 
effective means to reduce emissions from aircraft.  Mayrhuber 
argues improving aircraft infrastructure, utilizing new 
technology, and unifying air traffic control operations in 
Europe would cut emissions by as much as 8 - 12 percent. 
Mayrhuber also says he would only support inclusion of air 
traffic emissions in an emissions trading scheme if it were 
truly global and supports using the ICAO to resolve this 
issue. 
TIMKEN JR