Many Say Trading Scheme Will Have Little Overall Impact

Environmentalists responded this week to the European Commission's announced plan to bring aviation into an emissions-trading market, with a goal of cutting emissions of greenhouse gases. Those reactions ranged from yawns, to anger.

As Aero-News reported, the commission wants to act to cap greenhouse gases contributed by airliners, one of the fastest growing sources. EU environment commissioner, Stavros Dimas, says the most expedient way to do that is to include the airlines in the system through which industries earning credits for reducing emissions can sell them to other industries which can't make adequate reductions.

"Aviation too should make a fair contribution to our efforts to cut greenhouse gas emissions," Dimas told The Guardian. "The commission will continue to work with our international partners to promote the objectives of a global agreement on aviation."

"Bringing aviation emissions into the EU emissions trading scheme is a cost-effective solution that is good for the environment and treats all airlines equally," Dimas added.

A similar system governing electrical generation in the US allows clean technologies like geothermal energy to sell emission credits to companies which can't make their goals, such as those operating coal-fired power plants.

But some environmentalists are complaining that using 2004-to-2006 emission levels as the baseline for airliners in Europe will allow the airlines to reap a windfall for relatively minor improvements in the future, and not contribute enough to overall reductions. Campaigners want European governments to increase aircraft fuel taxes and halt airport expansion to control pollution.

"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," said Green MEP Carline Lucas. "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."

Others, like Liberal Democrat MEP Chris Davies, see the airlines' role in the plan as little more than a public relations ploy.

"Airline operators have been lobbying to have aviation included within the emissions trading scheme ever since its launch," he said. "A cynical industry sees this as a PR exercise to deflect criticism while doing nothing effective to curb the headlong growth in air travel."

The EU's move toward a carbon-trading scheme to incentivize reductions in carbon emissions stems from the Kyoto Treaty, even though the treaty itself did not cover aviation.

As for light aircraft, the EU proposal would exempt them from provisions of the plan... because administrative costs were estimated to be a bigger problem than their CO2 emissions.

FMI: http://ec.europa.eu/index_en.htm