Says Its Carbon Tax Case Will Go Forward

As the countdown continues to the January 1 start of the European Union's new unilateral carbon tax on airlines, including portions of flights outside its jurisdiction, China has announced it will go forward with a suit against the plan, notwithstanding a recent defeat in European courts of a similar challenge brought by the US.

Reuters reports that the China Air Transport Association (CATA) will file the suit, despite dim prospects of winning. Association Deputy Secretary Chai Haibo is quoted in the Monday edition of the Economic Observer as saying, "We deeply regretted that the United States lost the lawsuit. We know that the prospect of victory is dim, but we want to show our firm opposition by launching a lawsuit."

In a related action, China daily reports that four state-run airlines in China will file their own, combined lawsuit in Germany before the end of this week. The Economic Observer says the airlines were directed to act with a unified voice by the General Administration of Civil Aviation of China.

The European Union's carbon trading scheme, implemented to comply with commitments made under the Kyoto Treaty, is widely touted by social planners as a measure intended to change behavior, not produce revenue. By that standard, it is a flop. Reason.org's Ron Bailey notes that the Swiss bank UBS issued a report in November which found that implementing Europe’s carbon market has resulted in almost no low-carbon innovations in energy production, while imposing about $280 billion in additional costs on European consumers.

Airlines in the US have argued that the new carbon license fees appear primarily intended to subsidize European governments.

FMI: http://europa.eu/index_en.htm ; http://reason.com/archives/2011/12/13/durban-climate-change-vows-made-to-be-br