EU Parliament backs CO2 cap on air traffic

The Parliament's rapporteur on the dossier, Caroline Lucas MEP (Greens/EFA, UK), is leading the crusade to end what she sees as a preferential treatment for aviation within the transport sector. "Aviation is the fastest growing source of greenhouse gas emissions, with flights set to double by 2020, yet the sector continues to avoid regulation and enjoy distorting breaks," said Lucas. 

And she believes that the non-CO2 impacts of aviation, such as water vapour condensation trails, should be tackled as well. "The total climate impacts of aviation are 2-4 times more damaging than those from CO2 alone and any legislation ignoring this would be short-sighted. Ideally, the non-CO2 impacts could be addressed by an emissions charge but, failing that, the use of multipliers on CO2 emissions in a future aviation emissions trading scheme is another viable alternative. 

Airlines reacted angrily at the Parliament report, saying it "missed the opportunity to promote a realistic strategy" and instead opted for "the most restrictive and punitive measures possible".

Sylviane Lust, director of the International Air Carrier Association (IACA), said: "Any approach to aviation and the environment which calls for the simultaneous introduction of taxes on aviation fuel, VAT on airline tickets, environmental charges at airports and emissions trading scheme (ETS) totally ignores economic realities. Moreover the recommendation to set up a separate ETS scheme for aviation is totally unrealistic."

IACA says the measures supported by Parliament should undergo deeper analysis to determine what would be their consequences on the European economy, jobs and the general quality of life of European citizens.

The liberal democrats in the European Parliament (ALDE) adopted a more conciliatory tone than their fellow Green colleagues. "Our message is that airline operations can continue to expand, but only as fast as improvements in technology and better operating practices permit," said UK LibDem MEP Chris Davies. "We don't want to stop air travel. We simply want to ensure that its growth is not at the expense of future generations. Total carbon dioxide emissions must increase no further."

Holger Krahmer MEP, a German liberal of the FDP party (also a member of the ALDE) criticised Ms Lucas' report for being "a good example of ecopopulism". Krahmer observes that the constant high prices of kerosene have already forced air transport companies to save fuel and therefore, reduce CO2 emissions. He says sensible measures to further cut fuel consumption could be achieved through other measures such as better management of flight routes.

On the eve of the Parliament's vote, the European Federation for Transport and Environment (T&E), an environmental NGO, issued a report showing a steady rise in CO2 emissions from aviation over the last decade. The report, based on figures from the European Environment Agency (EEA), says CO2 emissions from international flights increased by 85% between 1990 and 2004, an average increase of 4.5% per year. It says the increase in emissions "cancels out almost one quarter of the reductions made over the same period by other sectors in Europe under the terms of the Kyoto protocol".  

Jos Dings, director of T&E said, "Since Kyoto was signed, other sectors have been cutting emissions, while those from the gas-guzzling aviation sector have almost doubled. Meanwhile, governments have showered the sector with subsidies and tax breaks. It is high time Europe got its head out of the clouds, got the aviation sector in line with other polluters and started demanding emissions cuts."