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    By James Kanter
    The New York Times

    Thursday 21 December 2006

    Paris - In the face of stiff opposition from the airline industry, the European Union moved forward Wednesday with plans to impose extra charges on foreign and domestic carriers that pollute too much.

    "We are showing our determination to fight climate change," said Europe's environment commissioner, Stavros Dimas, who announced the proposal Wednesday in Brussels. "This is one way to persuade other countries to come along with us."

    The rules, which would be legally binding, would apply to all flights within the bloc starting in 2011. Foreign carriers landing and taking off from busy airports like those in Frankfurt, London and Paris would be obliged to join the system the following year. If enacted, the measure could drive up costs for airlines, potentially leading to higher airfares for travelers.

    The proposal draws from the principles of an established system that Europe now uses to help combat global warming and meet emissions goals set forth under the Kyoto Protocol.

    Under that plan, which has so far exempted airlines, governments set goals for the carbon dioxide emissions of producers of power, cement, fuels, pulp and paper. If they exceed those goals, companies must purchase allocations, or credits. Many airlines, supported by the United States government, are seeking to blunt the European plans, calling them expensive and unworkable. They want the International Civil Aviation Organization, a United Nations agency, to draw up any rules for emissions trading so that all countries comply.

    Giovanni Bisignani, director general of the International Air Transport Association, a group that includes most of the world's airlines, said Wednesday that he would continue to seek changes before the plan was approved by European Union governments and the European Parliament, a process that is likely to take years.

    "We are concerned about the legal implications of applying the scheme outside Europe from 2012," Mr. Bisignani said. "We must have a global approach for a global problem."

    Mr. Dimas maintained that his plans were legal, and he encouraged governments and airlines to speed efforts to reach a global accord to cap emissions, rather than block European efforts.

    Peter Lockley, a policy analyst at the Aviation Environment Federation in London, praised Mr. Dimas for "standing up to pressure from the U.S. and certain sections of the aviation industry" by including all flights landing at and taking off from European airports.

    But Mr. Lockley criticized plans to give airlines most of their pollution credits free, rather than through more extensive auctions. Mr. Lockley also said that airlines, like other heavy polluters in Europe, should be required to reduce their emissions from 1990 levels, rather than from present levels.

    Officials from the International Air Transport Association acknowledged that they had already won concessions from Europe in recent weeks, including a delay in specific plans to regulate nitrogen oxide, another pollutant emitted by aircraft engines.

    British Airways said the planned legislation would "now treat aviation more similarly to other industries." But Lufthansa, a German carrier, sharply criticized the plan, saying that more rapid action to streamline air traffic control and reduce flight detours and holding patterns would be far more effective at cutting emissions.

    The proposals "would tie up resources and capital by bureaucracy," Lufthansa said, warning that "important investments in environmentally friendly technologies would have to be postponed." Lufthansa is more dependent for overall sales than British Airways on flights that take off and land in the European Union.

    The international air transport group said that Europe's proposal could still cost airlines globally up to 2.9 billion euros ($3.8 billion) a year to buy allowances starting in 2012, when the rules are expected to cover all flights in and out of the union.

    But European officials said that airlines should be able to pass much of the extra costs on to passengers, who would face increases in ticket prices of $2 to $12 for a trip within the European Union over the next decade. Officials said a return flight to New York might cost an additional $10 to more than $50, depending on how much individual airlines would have to pay for extra carbon allowances.

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    Airline Charge "Big Step Forward"
    BBC News

    Wednesday 20 December 2006

    Moves to set limits for airline carbon emissions are a "big step forward" in fighting pollution despite plans to expand airports, the government says.

    Environment Secretary David Miliband said emissions from the UK's planned doubling in passengers to 465 million a year by 2020 could be offset elsewhere.

    It was still a "very serious problem", although "the important thing is we get overall emissions down", he added.

    Airlines are expected to have limits set on greenhouse gases.

    Extra Costs

    The EU's environment commissioner is to propose including airlines in the Emissions Trading Scheme, which aims to tackle climate change.

    Under it, companies have to pay for emitting more than a set amount of greenhouse gases.

    Up to now, the aviation sector has been exempt.

    Last week, the government announced plans to expand Heathrow and Stansted airports to help cope with an expected rise in UK airline passengers from 228 million a year now to 465 million by 2020.

    This was widely condemned by environmental groups. At present, aviation emissions account for 4 to 5% of UK carbon emissions.

    Mr Miliband, asked how doubling UK flights fitted with a green agenda, told BBC Radio 4's Today: "We have to make a choice whether we fly more, or drive more or use high-pollution energy.

    "We have all got to do more. It's about government action, it's about business action and it's about individual action as well."

    Mr Miliband added that the government had "been campaigning for a long time" to reclassify airlines as a high-polluting industry which should be included in the Emissions Trading Scheme.

    He said: "It's one of the fastest-growing sources of emissions and we should effectively classify aviation as a high-emitting industry along with electricity and other energy generation and this is an important way of doing it.

    "This emissions trading plan is driven by the science and it means that we can put caps on the amount of emissions that come these high-emitting industries."

    It was also possible to change the way planes take off and land, which currently created "excessive emissions", Mr Miliband said.

    EU Environment Commissioner Stavros Dimas has said he hopes for a 30% cut in EU carbon emissions by 2020.

    Some consumer groups are worried that it will be travellers and not the airline companies who will end up paying for this.

    But environmentalists think it will do little to slow global warming.

    Richard Dyer, of Friends of the Earth, told the BBC: "This is a tiny step in the right direction. It's not big enough, not urgent enough and not soon enough."

    Green Party European Parliament member Caroline Lucas said: "Without limits on the number of permits the airlines can buy up from other sectors in the emissions trading scheme, emissions from aviation will continue to grow at the expense of other industries.

    "This is especially worrying because, as well as emitting CO2, airlines produce other greenhouse gases which mean their total contribution to climate change is two to four times higher than that of most other industries."

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