Isra-Mart srl: Green groups tell EU to stand firm as aviation emissions case goes to court

www.isra-mart.com

Isra-Mart news:

Green groups are urging European policymakers not to back down in the face of intense US pressure to exclude the country's airlines from EU plans to include airlines in its emissions trading scheme (ETS) from next year.

The European Court of Justice will today hear US airlines American and Continental/United, along with the Air Transport Association of America, make the case that including non-EU airlines within the cap and trade scheme is illegal.

However, WWF-UK, the Aviation Environment Federation, the European Federation for Transport and Environment, the Environmental Defense Fund and Earthjustice will all give evidence to support the EU, which insists that the plans are the best way to deal with the industry's increasing emissions given the slow progress on a global deal.

The industry has warned of trade wars or tit for tat legislation should the scheme to charge operators per tonne of CO2 emitted for every flight in and out of Europe go ahead, but the five NGOs want the EU to ignore pressure from the US and China and maintain its stance.

"The ETS is a modest but important start in reducing international aviation emissions and its benefits will be even greater if member states use the revenues to support action on climate change, as suggested under the ETS Directive," said Keith Allott, head of climate change at WWF-UK.

"The European Court of Justice needs to back the inclusion of all flights in the ETS, and the EU needs to stand firm against political pressure and industry lobbying that will take us back to square one."

Emissions from aviation rose 110 per cent between 1990 and 2008, according to the Aviation Environment Federation, and now account for around two per cent of global output, a figure that first inspired the EU plans.

Bringing the industry into Europe's ETS is expected to save 183 million tonnes of CO2 per year by 2020, a 46 per cent reduction on a 'business as usual' scenario.

However, the industry would prefer a global solution to combating emissions to be agreed through the International Civil Aviation Organisation, where talks have been going on for well over a decade and have come up with only non-binding emissions and efficiency targets so far.

US negotiators want the country's airlines excluded from the scheme as they say it constitutes an 'unlawful tax' on non-EU countries and contravenes their sovereignty. US airlines made this case in the UK courts before the government referred it the European Court of Justice in Luxembourg in January last year.

However, the European Union maintains that the ETS is not a tax but a market-based environmental measure that uses flights into and out of the region as the basis for carbon trading within the scheme.

It says that the scheme does not apply beyond EU member states, so it cannot affect sovereign rights and therefore sits comfortably with international law.

A ruling is expected later this year and will no doubt be of interest to the China Air Transport Association, which has threatened to launch its own lawsuit.