MEPs vote for aviation emissions trading by 2011

MEPs have today backed a compromise set of measures designed to cut the aviation industry's carbon emissions that could see all airlines operating flights into and out of Europe included in the European Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) from 2011.

However, both environmentalists and the aviation industry were united in their condemnation of the new proposals, with green groups insisting the plans did not go far enough and airlines arguing they would have minimal impact on emissions while undermining the competitiveness of European carriers.

The European Parliament had been debating proposals from its environmental committee to stiffen the European Commission's plans to bring airlines into the ETS.

Under the Commission's plans, internal EU flights would have been brought into the scheme from 2011, with flights to and from the EU included from 2012. However, the Environment Committee recommended that all flights be included in the scheme from 2010, and that rather being set at current levels emission caps should be cut by 25 per cent.

MEPs have now reached a compromise between these two sets of proposals, backing plans for all flights to be included in the ETS 2011 and for emission caps to be set at 90 per cent current levels. It also proposed that a quarter of emission permits should be auctioned to airlines and that planes weighing less than 20,000kg, including most small business jets, should be exempted from the scheme.

Both environmental and aviation industry groups responded angrily to the plans, questioning their likely effect on aviation emissions.

Friends of the Earth’s aviation campaigner, Richard Dyer, said the new proposals represented just "modest improvements" on the Commission's original plans and as a result MEPs were jeopardising the EU's target of cutting emissions by 30 per cent by 2030.

Meanwhile, the Associ ation of European Airlines (AEA) insisted the vote represented a "massive blow to the viability and competitiveness of the European airline industry".

Ulrich Schulte-Strathaus of the AEA said that the group's members supported emissions trading as a useful mechanism for tackling climate change but only as part of "a comprehensive strategy which should also involve operational, technological and infrastructural advances", something he insisted the European Parliament's plans currently lack.

Schulte-Strathaus also argued that the proposals would increase costs for European carriers and passengers without any guarantee revenue raised by governments through the scheme would be invested in environmental projects. " Auctioning is a euphemism for taxes," he said. "Airlines and the travelling public are expected to provide national treasuries with additional funds, without any guarantee that these will be invested into environmental improvements."

The vote also puts Europe on a collision course with US airlines, who have vowed to use international competition rules to mount a legal challenge against any attempt to bring their flights to and from Europe into the trading scheme.

However, despite the many challenges the proposed legislation still faces, the vote increases the likelihood that flights will be included in the emissions trading scheme and cranks up pressure on firms to prepare for an era of higher ticket prices.