MEPs vote to step up efforts to pull airlines into ETS

MEPs on the European Parliament's Environment Committee yesterday voted overwhelmingly in favour of pulling forward plans to include aviation in Europe's emissions trading scheme, raising the prospect of a major row with the European Commission, member governments and the aviation industry.

The European Commission had previously sought to delay the proposals, which are expected to add up to €10 to the price of intra-EU flights and over €40 to transatlantic routes, but MEPs voted that all flights in and out of the EU should be covered by the ETS from 2011, rather than 2012 as proposed by the Commission and the 27 national governments.

In addition, the MEPs pushed for a tightening of the carbon caps that will be imposed on airlines, rejecting Commission proposals for emission caps to be set at 2004-2006 levels, and instead proposing caps at 10 per cent below this level.

They also proposed that caps should be lowered further from 2013; pushed for the proportion of credits put up for auction to be raised from 10 per cent to 25 per cent; and voted in favour of auction revenue being earmarked for investment in cleaner aviation technologies, lower carbon transport infrastructure such as rail networks; and climate adaptation initiatives in developing countries.

Rapporteur Peter Liese, a German Christian Democrat who drew up the committee's proposals, said he hoped to reach an agreement on the text with the Council of member governments in the coming weeks.

UK Green MEP Caroline Lucas welcomed the result of the vote and urged her colleagues in the parliament to only accept a compromise with the Commission if it takes significant steps to adopt a more "climate-friendly" position. "This vote demonstrates the Parliament's determination to get tough with the aviation sector," she said. "It is vital that MEPs stick to their guns on this crucial piece of legislation... since the Council was shamefully keen to water down the Commission's already weak proposal."

However, Quentin Browell of the International Air Transport Association (IATA) warned that the EU was "jumping the gun" with its plans to include aviation in a regional emissions trading scheme. "The IATA regards emissions trading as one of a number of tools that can be used to help reduce emissions from aviation," he said. "But we think any scheme has to be global… and that the Europeans are jumping the gun ahead of expected plans from the ICAO [the UN-backed International Civil Aviation Organisation]."

He warned that any attempt to include airlines in the ETS was likely to prompt legal action from US carriers, who have already questioned the extent to which the EU can claim jurisdiction over emissions that occur over other countries and international waters, and also force more flights into and out of Europe to rival airport hubs outside the EU such as Dubai.

"The EU should be taking a lead in the areas it can really make a difference, " he said, adding that the industry had been waiting years for a Europe-wide air traffic control framework that could curb carbon emissions by up to 12m tonnes a year.

In related news, European carrier Air France-KLM has become the latest airline to announce plans to investigate using algae oil as a jet fuel.

According to Dow Jones reports, the company has inked an agreement with Dutch firm AlgaeLink to develop the algae-derived biofuel. Speaking to the newswire, AlgaeLink's chief operating officer Peter van den Dorpel said that algae presented a good alternative to traditional biofuels as it can produce up to 50 per cent more oil and grows upwards of 10 times faster than traditional energy crops.