The UN's aviation body, the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), agreed late on Friday (October 8), to reduce the impact of global aviation carbon emissions on climate change.
Some 190 countries backed a global goal of improving fuel efficiency by 2% every year starting as early as 2013 and continuing to 2050.
A key part of the agreement approved an initiative to create a global trading structure for carbon emissions created by air transport, which will be incorporated into the European Union’s emissions trading scheme.
The agreement makes ICAO the 'first' UN agency 'to lead a sector in the establishment of a globally harmonised agreement' to limit carbon dioxide emissions.
The next UN discussions on climate change are being held in Mexico in late November.
The European Union welcomed the agreement, saying it was in step with its own plan to cap aircraft emissions in Europe starting in 2012.