Carriers band together to attack basis of European Commission's proposed legislation on carbon trading scheme
The report on which Europe has anchored its plan to include aviation in a future emissions trading regime is about to come under severe fire from a group of airline bodies seeking to challenge many of its recommendations.
The Committee for Environmentally Friendly Aviation (CEFA), a loose grouping of airline bodies, has secured cross-member funding to commission the Paris office of business adviser Ernst & Young to scrutinise the accuracy of the report on which the European Commission based much of its proposed legislation.
The EC issued a legislative proposal last year suggesting a cap on CO2 emissions for all aircraft arriving or departing from European Union airports from 2012, while allowing aircraft operators to buy and sell pollution credits on the existing EU carbon market.
The impact assessment study at issue was conducted by Dutch non-profit environmental consultancy CE Delft and was presented to the EC's Aviation Working Group established to consider the detailed design of the scheme.
European Regions Airline Association's (ERA) Simon McNamara, who is co-ordinating the effort on behalf of CEFA, confirms its members have agreed to publish their own assessment by the end of March. CEFA's membership includes ERA, European Business Aviation Association, International Air Carrier Association, Association of European Airlines, European Low Fare Airline Association and European Cargo Alliance.
"We no way want to destroy the proposed directive because we are generally supportive of the emissions trading scheme, but what we want is a scheme that is well designed in its aims and achieves its objectives without adverse effect on the travel and tourism industry," says McNamara. "Our assessment is going to be based on a lot of analysis - detailed economic data on the impact of the proposed scheme in a number of areas. Our objective is to take an in-depth look at its effect on various business models as well as its effect on regional development, tourism, European economy, employment and the environment.
"It will represent an essential tool, not just for our use, but for politicians and decision-makers to make up their minds about what is good or what is bad within the proposed emissions trading scheme," says McNamara.
Source: Flight International
