Without accurate facts and figures, it is impossible for policymakers to regulate effectively. Collecting data and stats might be time-consuming but is beneficial in the long-run.
Every bit of significant polling done at European and national level over the last five years has shown that everyday people care about the climate.
Issues like cost of living have become more pressing but have not replaced climate change on people’s list of priorities, they have simply added to them.
So it is understandable when institutions like the European Commission are accused of acting too slowly. The most ardent of critics say that actors like the Commission are like the Emperor Nero, fiddling while Rome burns.
But in many cases when it comes to energy and climate policies, we are sailing into uncharted territory. Decarbonising the entire economy requires a massive shift in technology and behaviour, so a lot of new things have to be tried.
Any good researcher or scientist will tell you that experiments require a good batch of data and then extensive testing in order to be successful. It is the same for policymaking, especially EU policymaking, given the amount of people and businesses it will apply to.
This week, the Commission announced that it is launching a new IT tool that will help address aviation’s growing climate-impact. This sounds a bit geeky at first but this could well be a massive step forward for air travel’s quest to go green.
Climate experts have estimated that only about 50% of aviation’s climate impact is a result of the CO2 emissions that come out the back of the planes. The rest is caused by non-CO2 impacts.
These include nitrogen oxide emissions and the contrails we see above our heads in the skies when it is a clear day. These phenomena trap heat within the atmosphere and add to global warming.
Until now there has been no coherent way for airlines to report these figures, so this new tool – known as NEATS – will take on that role. It is being rolled out gradually and subsequent updates are already planned to make reporting more seamless.
Essentially, the idea is to get enough data to accurately calculate the true impact of aviation on the climate so that policies can then take that impact into account.
Ultimately, the goal would be to price that impact in the same way that CO2 emissions from power stations, industrial facilities and intra-EU flights are priced under the EU’s emissions trading system.
The ETS was launched more than 10 years ago after also being built on the back of good verified data. It also continues to be expanded and updated through the very same process.
Shipping, another heavy transport sector that like aviation has been considered ‘hard to abate’ was included in the ETS at the beginning of last year. In the years leading up to that inclusion, shippers were obligated to report their emissions so that, again, a good policy could be designed.
That coverage is gradually expanding as well: next year, all CO2 emissions will be included and other emissions like methane will also be covered by the market.
International traders of goods like steel, iron and cement have also been given time to adapt to the incoming carbon border adjustment mechanism (CBAM), a new import tax of sorts that will apply to products that do not meet certain emission thresholds.
Data collection and reporting emission values has again been the name of the game in the leadup to the CBAM’s launch at the beginning of next year.
Not only is this slow but sure approach towards policymaking necessary in order to build something that works, it is also arguably necessary in order to build something that is politically feasible.
It is no secret that industries like shipping, aviation and so on lobby politicians and policymakers to get a good deal when the chips are down. Imposing something burdensome that is not well-designed is a recipe for disaster and failure.
Monitoring, reporting and verifying emissions should become easier and more straightforward in the coming years. Regulators have been doing it for a while now, systems are getting more sophisticated and companies are getting more willing to actually do it as well.
Maybe this will even be a task that artificial intelligence can actually make a positive contribution to if it is applied correctly.
So while the process of policy-mongering might be slow, for something with as wide and heavy an impact as the energy transition, it is better to get it right than rush it and potentially fail.
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