By Aimee Turner & David Learmount in London
The European Parliament has sent out its strongest signal yet that airlines should face their own special environmental penalties following a landslide vote calling for a raft of measures to tackle aviation’s contribution to global warming.
Euro MPs meeting in Strasbourg last week voted by 439 to 74 to adopt proposals drafted by Green Party MEP Caroline Lucas to introduce a range of measures. These include an airlines-only carbon dioxide emissions trading scheme (ETS) and similar penalties to tackle non-carbon greenhouse gas emissions together with a new tax regime on both aviation fuel and airline tickets.
|
Pollution debate: the arguments and the figures EasyJet has responded to the vote on behalf of the low-cost carriers blamed for being the fastest expanding market sector in commercial air transport. “Low-fares airlines such as EasyJet are designed for efficiency and as such they are part of the solution, not part of the problem,” it says. “With an average age of only 2.2 years, our fleet is the most modern of the major airlines in Europe. We only operate point-to-point services instead of connecting flights, which lowers the number of take-offs and landings. Moreover, we use less congested airports and fly with the highest seat density and the highest load factors. Those concerned about the environment should be flying with low-cost airlines – not avoiding them.” Meanwhile the European Environment Agency (EEA) has released a study claiming that CO2 emissions from international flights departing EU airports have risen by 85% between 1990 and 2004 – an average of 4.5% a year – and that in 2004 they rose by 7.4%. Aviation’s expansion cancels out 25% of the industrial emissions reductions achieved by Europe under the Kyoto Protocol – supposed to be 8% a year – says the EEA. |
|---|
While the European Parliament’s vote is not legally binding, it is thought likely to influence the legislative proposal being drafted by the EC and which is expected to be presented by the end of this year.
“The aviation sector is growing fast. Aircraft movements are expected to double by 2020 and triple by 2030. Technical efficiency gains just aren’t enough to counteract the massive increases in emissions that this will generate,” says Lucas. “We simply have no choice but to clip the airlines’ wings and force them to reduce their impact on the climate.” She says the proposals for aviation’s inclusion in the existing European scheme “will do little to deter airlines’ future emissions growth”.
Campaigner Jeff Gazzard from the GreenSkies Alliance estimates that the Parliament vote to contain aviation emissions within a closed scheme would increase ticket price by €30 ($37) on every flight, adding that a new fuel taxation and VAT regime would additionally “remove the billions of euros that the sector receives in subsidies annually”.
The International Air Carrier Association (IACA) called the vote a “missed opportunity”, saying it failed to promote a realistic industry strategy and to take into account the likely economic impact. “The Parliament’s radical approach cannot be seen as a constructive contribution to the debate,” it said, adding: “The application of a ‘multiplier’ [multiple taxes and an ETS] would be purely discriminatory since such a measure does not apply to other sectors and is not supported by scientific evidence.” The IACA also made the point that “a separate ETS for aviation would not be workable as there would be no market. All the trading entities would be net buyers of CO2.”
Source: Flight International
