EU Adopts Plan to Put Aviation in Emissions Scheme
Date: 21-Dec-06
Country: BELGIUM
Author: Sabina Zawadzki
Intra-EU flights will join the scheme, aimed at cutting global air pollution, in 2011. Flights into and out of the bloc will be included the following year, giving non-EU carriers time to prepare and see how the scheme works.
The United States quickly objected, arguing through an embassy spokesman that the EU was trying to circumvent the International Civil Aviation Organisation by proceeding on its own.
The quotas allowed for carriers will be equal to the average 2004-2006 emissions data.
"EU emissions from international air transport are increasing faster than from any other sector. This growth threatens to undermine the EU's progress in cutting overall greenhouse gas emissions," the Commission said in a statement.
The EU emissions trading scheme -- its key tool to battle global warming and meet Kyoto Protocol emissions reduction targets -- puts a limit on the amount of carbon dioxide (CO2) big polluters such as power plants and oil refineries can emit.
But so far it had excluded aviation, a large and growing source of pollution as air travel booms.
Now airlines, like companies already involved in the scheme, will be able to buy rights to pollute if they overshoot their targets or sell them if they come in below the cap.
The majority of the permits will be given away, but 10 percent will be auctioned. Unlike in the current trading scheme, where member states set limits subject to the Commission's approval, the EU's executive will deal with the caps itself.
The original plan to include all flights from the start drew criticism from the airline industry and major trading partners, including the United States, that the draft went beyond acceptable limits and effectively regulated non-EU carriers.
A US Embassy spokesman said the process "will prove unworkable and will undercut rather than support international efforts to implement system improvement to manage the impact of aviation emissions".
He said the plan cannot be imposed without the consent of non-EU participants.
But Environment Commissioner Stavros Dimas said he thought the proposal was safe from any legal challenge.
"Our proposal is in accordance and compatible with international law. I expect that United States airlines or other airlines will not challenge legally something that they know they are not going to win," Dimas told a briefing.
HEAVY BURDEN?
Industry players said they were responsible for just 1 or 2 percent of global emissions. Some said there were other ways to cut emissions such as efficient engines and effective air traffic control that avoided unnecessary time flying.
While EasyJet found the proposal acceptable, Lufthansa complained that the costs of the scheme would take cash away from other green initiatives.
"An emission trading system ... would tie up resources and capital by bureaucracy -- important investments in environmentally friendly technologies would have to be postponed," the company said in a statement.
Finnish national carrier Finnair said it expected costs of "tens of millions of euros" as a consequence of the scheme, but that it was too early to say whether it would absorb the costs itself or pass them on to passengers.
The International Air Transport Association (IATA), which "cautiously welcomed" the plan, had said before that the scheme would cost the industry 3 billion euros (US$4 billion) in 2011, counting all flights through the EU as originally proposed.
It also said emissions could be cut by 12 percent if the EU implemented a proposal called the Single European Sky that would integrate the bloc's traffic-control centres and their systems, helping to reduce flight detours.
The Association of European Airlines (AEA), representing big carriers such as British Airways and Air France KLM, said its members were likely to end up buying permits, rather than selling, as the cap was so strict.
The industry is growing fast, and
