Parliament haggles over aviation emissions limits[de] 

Members of the Parliament's environment committee, on 12 September, deplored the adoption of a report - one day earlier - by their colleagues in the transport committee, which called on the Commission to weaken its proposal on including internal flights into the EU's carbon trading scheme as of 2011 and international ones as of 2012. 

While the Commission is proposing an overall CO2 cap based on average plane emissions in 2004-2006, the transport committee said that this would fail to take into account the sector's recent strong growth levels, especially in the new member states. 

They called for the cap to be set at 110% of average emissions from 2007-2009 and suggested that airlines be given 80% of this quota for free, with just 20% of permits auctioned. Lastly, they asked for the scheme to be delayed until 2012 so that all airlines are treated equally. 

But the environment committee, which has the lead on the issue, said the Commission's plan was not tough enough. 

Although its members failed to reach an agreement on how strict the cap should be, suggestions ranged from EPP-ED rapporteur Peter Liese's proposal of 90% of 2004-2006 levels – which he justifies by saying that a "more ambitious cap cannot realistically be imposed because the technology for reducing emissions is not available" – to proposals for a tighter cap, based on even earlier levels of emissions. 

On auctioning, Liese said that his suggestion of 50% had received support from "many", but Liberal and Green MEPs continued to call for 100% - as proposed in a 2006 Parliament resolution (EurActiv 05/07/06). 

While airlines say that the Commission's plan could slash their profits by more than €40 billion, green groups believe it is too weak and will only succeed in offsetting less than one year's growth in the sector's emissions. 

The proposal is expected to be put to a vote before the full parliament in November. 

In a parallel development, the environment committee adopted an own-initiative report by Liberal MEP Chris Davies (EurActiv 26/06/07) calling for CO2 emissions from cars to be cut to 120 g/km by 2012 "through engine technology alone" – thereby rejecting the 'integrated approach' supported by the Commission and automobile manufacturers. 

The report also expresses a need for long-term targets as low as "70g CO2/km or less by 2025", although it adds that some specialist manufacturers will be unable to achieve the 120gramme target by 2012 and should have the right "to exclude 500 identified vehicles annually".