Browse by topic: News, Aviation, Pricing and taxation

Filters:

Is China dictating Europe’s climate policy?

The EU’s decision to ‘stop the clock’ on including emissions from intercontinental flights in its Emissions Trading Scheme appears to have been influenced by Chinese threats to cancel orders for new planes from Airbus. A letter from the president of the French aircraft maker to China’s leading aviation official – seen by Reuters – says Airbus played an influential role in persuading the EU to give the world’s governments another year to reach agreement on how to tackle carbon emissions from air transport. T&E says European governments have effectively given China ‘a veto over European policy’.

The clock has stopped: where is ICAO now?

Following the European Parliament’s vote approving the Commission’s proposal to “Stop the Clock”, Conservative MEP Peter Liese, aviation EU ETS and “Stop the Clock” Rapporteur, hosted a public briefing for MEPs in Brussels on Wednesday 24th April to review progress of the International Civil Aviation Organisation’s (ICAO) High Level Group on Climate Change (HGCC) formation, of which had prompted Europe’s stop the clock decision. The conference was attended by Jos Delbeke, Director–General DG Clima, Prof David Lee of Manchester University, IATA’s Paul Steele and Green MEP Satu Hassi. The derogation became European law on 25 April. Here’s our report of what was said there.

The clock has stopped but time is running out for ICAO

The clock may have been stopped for a year, but time is still passing. ‘Stopping the clock’ was a big gesture from the EU. With the world saying it was the EU’s decision to include aviation in its Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) that was preventing global action to tackle aircraft’s contribution to climate change, the EU said ‘OK, we’ll suspend our action for a year to create the chance for a global agreement.’ Yet so far, little progress has been made and the blame heaped on the EU’s ETS looks more and more like the empty excuse we always thought it was.

Airlines charging passengers for ‘costs’ they don’t have to pay

Airlines are making  so-called ‘windfall profits’ of up to €1.3bn by charging passengers for permits to pollute which they are no longer obliged to hand over to European countries. That is the main conclusion of a study by the Dutch consultancy CE Delft carried out for T&E. T&E, in a statement, called for airlines not to retain these windfall profits - which would, they say, be a betrayal of passengers’ contributions to fight climate change. Instead, the campaign group called for any such profits to fund developing countries’ efforts to deal with the effects of climate change.

End of legal challenge to aviation in ETS, but will opposition now move elsewhere?

Sky with contrails

The coalition of American aviation interests that challenged the EU’s right to introduce emissions trading to air transport has abandoned its legal action. A group of six NGOs welcomed the decision, but said the airline coalition’s failure to accept December’s ruling by the European Court of Justice suggests the Americans may be moving the battlefield elsewhere.

This is the moment of truth for Icao

Editorial by Jos Dings, T&E Director
If you listen carefully through the cacophony surrounding the inclusion of aviation in Europe’s Emissions Trading System, there is progress. Important progress.The verdict of the European Court of Justice cleared the legal hurdle, which even more clearly exposes this fight for what it really is: a political power struggle between the most important economic blocs on the planet.

A brave new but uncertain era for aviation and environment

The world’s first transnational scheme that forces airlines to pay for the costs of their carbon emissions came into effect on 1 January. Following a historic ruling by the European Court of Justice on 21 December that declared emissions trading for airlines using EU airspace legal, airlines can now only use EU airports if they have the necessary emissions permits to do so. Yet the battle continues, with various non-EU countries threatening other forms of retaliation, and the EU standing firm, saying it will only make concessions if there is a global measure.

Aviation's ETS objections are baseless

Sketch of some documents (default image for news

OpinionBy Jos Dings - T&E Director
In recent weeks a number of foreign airlines have been heard complaining about their inclusion from next year in Europe’s emissions trading system (EU-ETS). It was no coincidence that the collective moan emanated from the industry’s annual gathering in Singapore. Nothing rallies the airline troops like a rant against environmental policy, and the journalists who had shown up in Singapore had to write about something. But this time, even Willie Walsh, boss of British Airways, found himself speaking out against a law he himself favoured when it was in the making. His complaints echoed warnings from Airbus of a trade war in a letter to the European Commission.

Pages