European Commission Proposes Airline Carbon Charge for EU Airspace
by Barbara Lewis (Reuters) The European Union on Wednesday revived a proposal to charge foreign airlines for emissions over European airspace, drawing the ire of airline groups who say it goes against spirit of a recent global aviation deal and could reignite trade tensions.
The proposal from the European Commission to cover the 2014-2020 period represents a retreat from an existing, though frozen, EU law that would require all planes using EU airports to pay for emissions for the full duration of their flights through an Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS).
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EU Climate Commissioner Connie Hedegaard said the bloc was within its rights to regulate aircraft emissions within its own airspace.
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The International Air Transport Association (IATA), which represents some 240 global airlines, issued a statement expressing “concern and surprise” at the proposal from the EU executive.
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U.S. airline lobby group Airlines for America said requiring foreign carriers to participate in the EU trading scheme without the agreement of the airlines’ country of registry “flies in the face” of the ICAO agreement.
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For their part, members of the European Parliament, which together with the EU’s 28 member states would have to approve the Commission proposal, have raised objections to the Montreal agreement, describing it as empty.
Unless the European Parliament approves the Commission’s proposal quickly – ahead of parliamentary elections and a change-over of commissioners in 2014 – the existing EU aviation law will resume effect. READ MORE
