EU proposal to curb airline emissions too weak?
Under a EU proposals, all European will be covered by the EU's carbon emissions trading scheme from 2011, with all journeys to and from Europe's airports being included by 2012.
Under the plans an airline would be issued with permits to pollute based on their 2004-2006 carbon emissions levels. Any airline able to reduce its CO2 emissions would be able to sell its remaining allowance, while other more 'dirty' airlines would have to buy more permits.
It is expected that the airlines will pass on the cost of the carbon trading scheme to their passengers despite the permits being allocated for free rather than being auctioned as done with other industries.
The increase in cost per return flight by 2020 is expected to be in between £1.20 and £5.
The plans are expected to achieve up to 46% savings in CO2 emissions by 2020 (the equivalent of 183 millions tons of CO2), though this disputed by green organisations, who suggested that the reduction would be no more than 3%.
As many airlines have been lobbying for inclusion in the EU carbon trading scheme, it is likely that the scheme is seen as a soft solution, which will enable airlines to divert criticism rather than finding more effective ways to reduce their growing CO2 emissions.
20th December 2006
