Germans raise pressure for aircraft pollution tax

Date: 03/12/1998

By Chris Johnstone

AIRLINES and environmental groups are locked in a fierce battle as they seek to influence the European Commission's strategy for combating pollution from aircraft.

Environmental groups say airlines have been put on the defensive by the new German government's support for a tax on aviation fuel and the failure of international negotiations designed to pave the way for a world-wide levy on aircraft pollution.

Germany's Social Democrat/Green coalition has vowed to make pushing for an EU-wide tax on aviation fuel a priority during its six-month presidency of Union, which begins in January.

The International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO), the United Nations organisation charged with setting international aviation rules, delayed any decisions on measures to counter air pollution from aircraft when it met in October, calling instead for a technical committee to come back with proposals by 2001.

Airlines currently face no pollution taxes on fuel and no value added tax on tickets.

Now Transport Commissioner Neil Kinnock is piecing together a Union strategy to tackle aviation pollution, with a communication on aviation and the environment expected early next year.

Green lobby groups such as Friends of the Earth and the European Environment Bureau are hoping the Commission will heed their demands for Europe to go it alone and impose separate taxes on aviation fuel and on pollutants from aircraft. "These measures are a bit blunt, but they are understandable for the public," said Jeff Gazzard of Friends of the Earth, England.

Environmentalists are concerned, however, that the Commission could opt instead to negotiate a voluntary emissions-cutting deal with airlines and aircraft manufacturers. Kinnock has already suggested this approach should be investigated.

European airlines fear that they will be put at a disadvantage compared with rivals outside the Union if the EU decides to take unilateral action.

Aviation currently accounts for around 2-3% of man-made carbon dioxide and nitrogen oxide, two of the most common greenhouse gases thought to be responsible for climate change.

That contribution is set to escalate to around 8% of all greenhouse gases early in the next century, with some forecasts suggesting that airline traffic will double by 2010. Annual air traffic growth in Europe already stands at around 6%.

The lobby group representing Europe's biggest airlines, the Association of European Airlines, argues that they have delivered substantial improvements in their pollution performance without government intervention.

Some EU insiders believe a radical initiative from the Commission is now less likely since responsibility for dealing with the issue of aviation emissions was moved from environment officials to the Commission's Directorate-General for transport (DGVII) earlier this year.