Non EU countries and airlines continue to warn of retaliatory action against EU ETS

Date added: 4 October, 2011

IATA says there is a risk that countries outside the EU could take retaliatory
action against the EU’s ETS. On 6th October an advocate general to the European
Court of Justice will issue an opinion on a request by US airlines for non-European
carriers to be excluded from the ETS. This should give a steer on the subsequent
ruling by the ECJ, which the EC is confident will side with the EU rather than
the US airlines. They want a scheme run through ICAO.

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Turbulence hits EU airline pollution scheme

4.10.2011 (Financial Times)

See the full article (excerpts below) at

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/cca023aa-edb3-11e0-a9a9-00144feab49a.html#axzz1Zowza3fK

By Andrew Parker in London

 

Airlines face being caught up in a global trade war as opposition grows to the
European Union’s controversial plan to make carriers pay for their pollution,
the aviation industry’s main representative body warned on Monday.

……………..

On Thursday, an advocate general to the European Court of Justice will issue an opinion on
a request by US airlines for non-European carriers to be excluded from the EU
scheme. This should give a steer on the subsequent ruling by the ECJ, which the
European Commission is confident will side with the EU rather than the US airlines.

Last Friday, 21 countries including the US, Japan, Brazil, Russia, India and
China issued a declaration opposing how the EU scheme will apply to flights that
start or end in one of the bloc’s 27-member states. They say the scheme was inconsistent
with international law and should not apply to flights by non-EU carriers.

…………….

“That is the worst possible outcome for us – the airlines being caught in the
middle of a trade war,” said Mr Tyler. “Other countries saying to Europe ‘OK,
if you are hitting our airlines with additional cost, which you should not be
doing, we will hit your airlines’ – none of us wants that.”

He also noted that China, partly in protest at the EU scheme, threatened in June
to derail a deal under which Hong Kong Airlines would order 10 superjumbo A380
aircraft from Airbus, a subsidiary of EADS, the European aerospace and defence
group.

Mr Tyler said the EU should abandon its plan to bring airlines within its emissions
trading scheme, adding the issue should be tackled through a global industry framework
devised by the International Civil Aviation Organisation, a UN agency.

…………

A spokesman for Connie Hedegaard, the European climate change commissioner, said
the EU scheme was consistent with international law, adding the bloc was willing
to engage with countries that had concerns about it. The spokesman said ICAO’s
member states had been unable to agree on how to tackle the aviation industry’s
emissions and, therefore, the EU had decided it was time to act.

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/cca023aa-edb3-11e0-a9a9-00144feab49a.html#axzz1Zowza3fK

see also – older news:

“IATA WARNS EU OVER ‘ILLEGAL’ CARBON PLAN” threatening Chinese retaliation over
EU ETS

June 6, 2011 (Reuters)

see also interesting Financial Times article

Airbus chief warns on emissions policy

at   http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/92dc6fd4-8fa3-11e0-954d-00144feab49a.html

Greener skies over Europe

Aviation’s contribution to climate change is forecast to grow substantially in
the future unless we act. As most other sectors are already subject to measures,
it is only reasonable that this sector should also contribute to fight climate
change. Almost 20 years after countries across the world in the UN Rio declaration
agreed on the need to “promote the internalization of environmental costs and
the use of economic instruments, taking into account the approach that the polluter
should, in principle, bear the cost of pollution” it seems high time that this
polluter-pays-principle is finally also applied to aviation’s greenhouse gas emissions.
How can we ever hope to make ordinary citizens of the world to play their part
in tackling climate change if the financier from Hong Kong or London or the business
man from Guandong or Frankfurt is not asked for any contribution whatsoever in
respect of the significant emissions that he incurs on an intercontinental flight?

The U.N.’s International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), in fact already
in 2004 unanimously endorsed the idea of emissions trading, and expressly recognised
that one of the most promising avenues to pursue this was to “incorporate emissions
from international aviation into States’ emissions trading schemes”. This is precisely
what the EU decided to do when it subsequently took the initiative to include
aviation in the EU’s emissions trading system (EU ETS).

Emissions from airplanes affect the climate regardless of their nationality.
Aviation is a competitive business, where on any given route, all carriers must
be treated equally regardless of their nationality to ensure legality, avoid distortions
of competition and maximize the environmental impact. Consequently, the EU legislation
applies to all outgoing and incoming flights.

This legislation is fully consistent with international law. Indeed, ICAO experts
long ago, and after carefully studying the matter, concluded that “there are no
provisions in the Chicago Convention that address or would appear to prohibit
the development and implementation of such programmes”. It is also consistent
with the policy of ICAO, which endorsed emissions trading precisely because it
was the most effective economic instrument for tackling aviation emissions, when
compared to alternatives such as taxes or charges.

A lot of misinformation and misunderstandings about the EU rules and the costs
for carriers circulate – the fact is that the vast majority of emissions rights
(85%) are given for free to airlines, while the remaining 15% of the cap is auctioned.
Auction revenues will be used to tackle climate change in the EU and third countries,
inter alia, to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, to adapt to the impacts of climate
change in the EU and third countries, especially developing countries, to fund
research and development for mitigation and adaptation, including in particular
in the fields of aeronautics and air transport, to reduce emissions through low-emission
transport and to measures to avoid deforestation.

The EU fully recognizes that ultimately global action is required, but this will
take time to develop. In order not to duplicate efforts, the EU’s legislation
clearly envisages that if a country outside the EU were to take equivalent measures
then all flights from that country could be exempt from the EU scheme. But honestly,
in Europe we cannot see why a student flying back home should pay for his pollution
while the Chinese businessman should not. We are ready to engage constructively
with other partners about such an approach and encourage other governments to
join in and take responsibility for controlling aviation’s emissions. We have
always been and continue to be open to discuss how best to combine our efforts
in addressing the impact of aviation on the global climate.

Connie Hedegaard

Posted: Tuesday, October 4th, 2011. Filed in General News.