Airlines Should Join Emissions Trade Scheme - EU
Date: 28-Sep-05
Country: BELGIUM
Author: Jeff Mason
The European Commission said emissions trading was the most promising way to enlist airlines in the fight against climate change. Taxes or charges -- other options the EU executive considered imposing -- were either less cost-efficient or less beneficial to the environment.
"The boom in flying is bringing with it a rapid rise in greenhouse gas emissions," Environment Commissioner Stavros Dimas said after fellow commissioners approved the plan.
Airlines and cargo carriers had an unfair advantage to other sectors in the economy which were required to reduce emissions of gases that warm the globe, he said.
"Aviation should also contribute in the fight against climate change. Emissions trading is the most cost-efficient way to do this and has the best economic and environmental results," he told reporters in Strasbourg, France.
The EU emissions trading scheme puts a limit on the amount of carbon dioxide (CO2), the main gas blamed for global warming, that big polluters like power plants can emit.
Companies buy more rights to pollute if they overshoot their targets, or sell them if they come in below the cap.
Aviation makes up 3 percent of EU greenhouse gas emissions, but those emissions are growing fast and could hinder progress in other sectors if left unchecked, the Commission said.
Ticket prices may rise by up to 9 euros ($10.83) per return flight as a result of the measures, making demand for flights grow at a "slightly slower rate", it said.
EU AND NON-EU CARRIERS AFFECTED
The Commission's position will be tailored into a formal proposal by the end of 2006 or early 2007. It envisions the scheme covering emissions from EU and non-EU carriers taking off from any country within the 25-nation bloc.
"EU and non-EU carriers would be treated equally," it said.
The Commission said it wanted to strengthen other measures to curb aviation emissions, including improving air traffic management and hacking away legal obstacles to taxation of jet fuel. International agreements prevent countries from taxing jet fuel on international flights.
EU member states and the European Parliament will respond to the Commission before it formulates a draft law. Officials have said aviation could enter the scheme as early as 2008.
Dimas said the scheme may start by covering aviation's emissions of C02, with the possible addition of other gases like nitrogen oxides later. He said it would likely be three to four years before aviation joined the scheme.
European airports and some major airlines have supported inclusion in the system as a better alternative to tax, but some politicians and environmentalists want airlines to do more.
"Inclusion in the emissions-trading scheme is a necessary first step but it is no substitute for tough measures such as the introduction of a Europe-wide aviation tax and the requirement for airlines to pay duty on the fuel they use," said Chris Davies, a Liberal Democrat in the European Parliament.
Britain, which holds the rotating EU presidency, welcomed the decision, as did British Airways, which wants the scheme to apply solely to flights within the EU initially. BA makes most of its profits on long-haul routes outside of the EU.
(additional reporting by Jeremy Smith in Strasbourg and Michael Smith in London)
