Clear sky and transparent sea

Background

Our report, Clear skies and transparent sea has found that the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) and the International Maritime Organization (IMO) are violating international standards on transparency and citizens’ access rights. Denied direct access to the ICAO and IMO, citizens are unable to hold these bodies to account. In effect, the people most affected by the decisions taken by governments in ICAO and IMO meetings have been excluded. 

The IMO is the UN agency responsible for preventing and reducing air and water pollution by ships. One of its key priorities is to promote sustainable shipping practices. ICAO is also a UN agency. Its Member States recently agreed to reduce emissions to zero by 2050, but this aspirational goal has not been tied to any legally binding regulations, unlike the IMO. At the same time, ICAO’s public vision is about growing the aviation sector, which is at odds with the need to decarbonise aviation, as set out in the Paris Agreement. With no transparency around decision-making, the public is unable to hold ICAO or its Member States responsible for their commitments. 

There are two key international laws that are relevant to this situation: the Aarhus Convention and the Escazú Agreement. Countries that have signed up to either of them are required to guarantee access to information, public participation and justice in all environmental decision-making. They must also protect and promote policies that safeguard people’s right to live in a healthy environment through international organisations they are members of, such as ICAO and the IMO. Parties to the Aarhus Convention have developed the Almaty Guidelines to set out the standard of transparency and accessibility required of ICAO, the IMO and other international organisations. 

What’s covered in the report?

Our report shows that:

• The Aarhus Convention, and its sister, the Escazú Agreement, recently concluded between states in South America, apply to both the Member States of ICAO and the IMO and to ICAO and the IMO itself. But it is Member States that carry legal responsibility, and as such can be subject to public lawsuits if they fail to deliver on these responsibilities. 
• ICAO and IMO should apply the Almaty Guidelines to increase public access rights to their institutions. 
• Reform to ICAO and the IMO’s processes is urgently needed, not only to bring the organisations in line with legal requirements, but politically to demonstrate that they and their Member States are taking the challenges of the climate crisis seriously.
• ICAO and the IMO’s lack of accountability is both cause and symptom of a failure to apply the legal standards on transparency expected of UN bodies. It has the effect of dramatically increasing the influence of unambitious industry on decision-making processes, and dramatically decreasing the level of climate ambition.

Read the full report.