Articles related to "Aviation and Emissions Trading"

President Barack Obama signed a bill yesterday (27 November) shielding US airlines from paying for each tonne of carbon their planes emit flying into and out of Europe, despite a recent move by Europe to suspend its proposed measure for one year.

The European Union is "totally committed" to reaching a global deal on carbon emissions from airlines, the Commission said yesterday (12 July) as efforts resumed to defuse an international row over the issue.

The European Commission today (15 May) gave defiant Chinese and Indian airlines one month to report their carbon emissions after they failed to meet their deadline, expanding a transcontinental feud over the EU’s Emissions Trading System.

Boeing threw its weight behind Airbus in a dispute over European Union airline emissions on Thursday (22 March), announcing at the same time an agreement to develop and commercialise sustainable biofuels for use in airplanes.

Seven leading European aviation companies have written to European political leaders warning about the implications of a recently introduced EU carbon tax, the Financial Times reported today (12 March).

The European Commission has asked airlines to report on "the amount of biomass" they use so that biofuels can be accounted as "zero emission" in the greenhouse gas emissions reports they are requested to produce each year under the EU's carbon scheme for the aviation sector.

The European Commission stood by its position in an ongoing dispute with China over plans to charge airlines flying to Europe for their carbon emissions, raising the stakes ahead of an EU-China summit in Beijing next week.

Countries opposing an EU law that charges airlines for carbon emissions should consider seeking waivers by adopting equivalent emission reduction measures, the EU's new ambassador to India said yesterday (23 January).

The US government denounced yesterday (21 December) a decision by Europe's highest court giving unreserved backing to an EU law to charge airlines for carbon emissions on flights to and from Europe, saying the case was not resolved.

Chinese airlines are being urged not to cooperate with a controversial scheme that will force them to buy carbon credits for all flights entering Europe starting on 1 January, the head of the country's aviation industry group said.

The European Union has announced that it will give airlines 85% of their carbon emission permits for free in 2012, under a new benchmarking scheme that will cap emissions at below their average for the years 2004-2006.

Chinese airlines have joined US rivals in opposing their inclusion in the European Union's carbon emissions trading scheme, which plans to cap the emissions of all global air carriers flying in and out of Europe from 2012.

Emissions trading for the aviation sector will start in January 2012 with a yearly allowance of 213 million tonnes of CO2, the European Commission said yesterday (7 March), announcing the EU's first key measure to reduce the impact of air travel on global warming.

The international air transport sector last week agreed to improve its fuel efficiency beyond government goals in a bid to halve the industry's emissions by 2050.

Thirty-one European airports including Paris Charles de Gaulle launched a joint programme yesterday (16 June) to cut their carbon dioxide emissions to zero, airports body ACI Europe said.

A directive incorporating aviation into the EU emissions trading scheme (EU ETS) entered into force today (2 February), obliging member states to put in place appropriate legislation within a year.

In a bid to cut costs and reduce the environmental impact of aviation, Belgium, France, Germany, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and Switzerland, which together cover more than half of all flights in Europe, have agreed to merge their airspace and manage traffic irrespective of national borders.

Transport ministers yesterday (9 October) gave the go-ahead to the launch of the development phase of the EU's next-generation air traffic management system. But airlines slammed the EU for giving higher priority to a "burdensome" emissions trading scheme than to realising the 'Single European Sky', which they say could significantly reduce aviation emissions.

MEPs and national governments, represented by the EU's current Slovenian Presidency, reached a landmark deal yesterday (26 June) on the details of plans to include aviation in the EU's Emissions Trading Scheme as of 2012.

MEPs have declared a de facto war against national governments by maintaining their demands for strict emission reduction targets for Europe's rapidly growing aviation sector, despite ministers' insistence on a more industry-friendly approach.

European Research Commissioner Janez Potočnik yesterday launched a seven-year, €1.6 billion public-private partnership aimed at helping the aviation industry to develop environmentally friendly technology.

The Bush administration's staunch opposition to an EU plan to cap emissions from planes flying to and from Europe has come under attack as a number of American states called for US airlines to be included in a similar scheme.

MEPs are likely to toughen up a Commission proposal on including aviation in the EU's carbon cap-and-trade scheme, according to rapporteur Peter Liese. While environmentalists say the plans remain too weak to tackle the urgency of climate change, airlines claim stronger proposals could "completely kill the competitiveness of the industry". 

Air transport officials from around the world rejected ambitious EU proposals on cutting greenhouse gases from international aviation at an annual meeting of the International Civil Aviation Organisation. But the EU stressed it would not back down on its plan to include foreign airlines in its carbon cap-and-trade system.

Member states must overcome their reluctance to hand over sovereignty on air-traffic control systems and speed up the implementation of a unified European system in order to improve industry's efficiency, enhance safety and slash CO2 emissions, according to a report by high-level experts.

The EU and the US have vowed to co-operate on reducing global aviation's contribution to climate change under a "green skies" partnership, but the deal is unlikely to hold off a dispute over a separate EU plan to make all airlines flying via Europe trade carbon permits.

The US plane-maker has told EurActiv of its plans to fly aircrafts on a 50% biofuels blend in a bid to reduce its carbon footprint. However, it says that it does not expect much from the inclusion of aviation in the EU's CO2-trading scheme.

The MEP recently appointed to steer a proposal to include aviation in the EU's carbon-trading system has warned that Parliament will likely insist on a more taxing scheme.

UK Environment Minister Ian Pearson has lashed out at the airline industry over its opposition to new EU plans to curb greenhouse-gas emissions.

A proposal to be tabled this week by the European Commission to curb CO2 emissions from the aviation sector could add €4 billion to airlines' profits, according to the UK's Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR).

Airlines say that excessive EU legislation on security and environment is unbalanced and unfair towards the aviation sector compared with other transport sectors.

A proposal to include airlines in the EU's carbon-trading scheme is due "within the next few weeks", Environment Commissioner Stavros Dimas announced. A revision of the scheme is also being planned.

A draft resolution voted on by the European Parliament's Environment Committee suggests introducing a tax on kerosene and capping CO2 emissions from all flights departing and landing in the EU.

EU environment ministers have urged Brussels to table proposals to include aviation in the emissions trading scheme "by the end of 2006" in order to reduce the sector's impact on global warming.

CO2 emissions from all international flights are to be capped and open to trading on the EU 'carbon market' under a new Commission proposal. But the system will prove difficult to apply in the case of non-EU airlines.

France will go ahead as of 2006 with a levy on airlines to finance development aid, President Chirac has announced on 29 August. But the tax could upset a separate EU proposal to cap pollution from airplanes.

Under plans leaked to the Financial Times, the Commission is to come up with a proposal to include aviation in the EU's emissions trading in the autumn, adding up to €9 to prices of plane tickets.

No additional sectors or gases will be added to the EU CO2 trading scheme before 2013, the Commission has said as it kick-started the review of the scheme on 14 June with a survey of traders, businesses, member states and NGOs.