By DANIEL MICHAELS
Governments from 190 countries agreed late Friday to let the United Nations' aviation body take the global lead on setting standards for limiting the industry's emissions of greenhouse gasses.
The assembly of the International Civil Aviation Organization, meeting in Montreal, "adopted a comprehensive resolution to reduce the impact of aviation emissions on climate change" and set "a roadmap for action through 2050," ICAO said in a statement.
For airlines and governments, the agreement provides hope that the different regions and countries will use common standards on aviation emissions —or at least coordinate approaches to avoid duplication and fights. Many airlines and regulators feared that the inherently global industry risked sinking into regional disputes over local regulations.
The deal comes just two months before the same countries are slated to gather in Cancún, Mexico, for talks on a broader deal at the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change. The UNFCC failed to reach a global deal last year at Copenhagen, and prospects for a deal at Cancun remain uncertain.
The U.N. body adopted the nonbinding resolution after two weeks of intense negotiations over how far the body should push standards. The European Union, which is already planning to regulate through its emissions-trading program, wanted tough standards, while developing countries such as China and Brazil wanted greater leeway to allow for their fast economic growth, according to people involved in the negotiations.
The deal also potentially marks a success for ICAO, which is one of the U.N.'s largest bodies and has often struggled to unify its many members.
"The resolution on the environment makes ICAO the first United Nations agency to lead a sector in the establishment of a globally harmonized agreement for addressing its CO2 emissions," ICAO said.
"We feel that the Assembly resolution and related decisions are good examples of the spirit of cooperation that can make a substantial contribution to the UNFCCC discussions," said the President of the ICAO Council, Roberto Kobeh González.
Write to Daniel Michaels at daniel.michaels@wsj.com
