Commission stands by flight emissions regime

The European Commission is defending proposals to make operators of flights in the EU buy and sell permission to emit carbon dioxide (CO2), in the face of growing opposition from the airline industry.

The proposal is to be published on 20 December. It will bring all aviation companies flying to and from the EU into the emissions trading system (ETS) for CO2 as of 2011.

A spokeswoman for Environment Commissioner Stavros Dimas said the proposal was the best way to tackle growing concerns about the impact of aviation on climate change.

"Our plans are not too ambitious," she said. "We have done our homework and concluded that the price that needs to be paid is reasonable, as far as it is transferred to the customer, and can be borne by industry."

Commission impact assessments estimate that including all flights in the ETS will add €0-€9 to the price of a ticket.

Emission trading has been up and running for large industrial installations in Europe since the start of this year. Aviation has so far been exempt.

"The idea is to create a level playing-field," said the spokeswoman, "both between airlines and sectors already covered by ETS, and between different airlines."

The Commission proposal will require all airlines to keep CO2 emissions at 2005 levels until 2022. Flight companies wishing to go beyond this baseline would have to buy emission permits from other airlines, or other companies already covered by ETS.

UK-based flight company British Airways said the plans were too ambitious and would damage European competitiveness.

Paul Marston of BA said that a simplified emission trading scheme, applying only to flights within the EU, could be a model for the rest of the world to follow.

Flight companies point out that aviation currently accounts for just 2% of EU CO2 emissions.

BA is also unhappy with the Commission proposal to make governments auction 40% of annual aviation emission permits by 2022. Marston said this would unfairly increase costs for the airline sector. The majority of emission permits under the existing ETS are given directly to industry.

The Commission says auctioning raises the price of emission permits and increases the incentive to find carbon-reduction technologies.

The United States has also come out against the aviation proposal. The White House Environmental Quality Council claims that imposing ETS standards on US companies flying and from Europe would violate international trade rules.

A US official said CO2 emissions from aviation could not effectively be tackled at an EU level. "Civil aviation is a global industry," he said. "We are concerned that an EU system including foreign airlines is a unilateral approach to an industry that should be governed globally."

The official said recommendations on cutting airline CO2 should come from the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO). He said other large countries, including Australia and India, shared the US’ concerns.

ICAO is expected to publish its own report on aviation and climate change next autumn.

The European Commission is defending proposals to make operators of flights in the EU buy and sell permission to emit carbon dioxide (CO2), in the face of growing opposition from the airline industry.