A decision by the European Commission to suspend its controversial Emissions Trading System (ETS) for passenger and cargo flights into and out of the EU has been welcomed by international airlines.
The scheme had seen airlines charged for carbon dioxide emissions through an innovative system that required them to purchase emissions permits, or EU Aviation Allowances.
However, following a decision on 9 November by the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) to investigate other ways to encourage airlines to cut emissions, the EU has opted to freeze airline inclusion in the scheme for one year.
“As a gesture of good faith, the EU will ‘stop the clock’ on the implementation of the international aspects of its ETS aviation by deferring the obligation to surrender emissions allowances from air traffic to and from the EU by one year,” the European Commission said in a statement.
“This means that the EU would not require allowances to be surrendered in April 2013 for emissions from such flights during the whole of 2012. The monitoring and reporting obligations will also be deferred for such flights. The obligations relating to all operators’ activities within EU will remain intact and compliance with the EU law will be enforced in this respect.”
Though confirming their intention to investigate “market-based mechanisms” for dealing with the problem of greenhouse emissions from aeroplanes some time ago, the ICAO has only begun to look into the issue, and has yet to decide whether to agree to the EU’s plan and implement the ETS scheme.
Under the terms of the ETS, all international airlines that operate flights both to and from the EU have to pay for carbon permits. The scheme was originally introduced in 2005 to compensate for the generation of carbon dioxide emissions in a variety of industries, but it was only in January 2012 that international airlines were included in the plan.
The scheme’s unpopularity has been clear with a variety of airlines from around the world – most strongly from the US and China – voicing their protest at a scheme that has effectively increased the cost of air transport and freight. However, the ‘stop the clock’ policy now means that airlines are to be exempt from the scheme.
Director General of the Association of Asia Pacific Airlines (AAPA), Andrew Herdman, described the European Commission’s decision as long overdue. However, he did not welcome the intimation that airlines may have to rejoin the scheme.
“Temporarily suspending the scheme is obviously a positive gesture by the EU, but may not go far enough,” Herdman said in an AAPA statement. “The implied threat of an automatic snapback in a year’s time means that the EU will still be seen by some as negotiating with a gun on the table.”
Herdman added that the right route to emissions regulation was through the ICAO, and not through a series of independent regional legislations.
“The alternative would be disastrous – a patchwork of overlapping national schemes and punitive taxes,” he pointed out. “However, we must recognise that, in line with the wider debate on climate policy, this is an inherently political process, and one in which the diverse interests of countries large and small, rich and poor, need to be reconciled.”
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