EU stands firm on carbon tax for airlines

Feb 14, 2012, 4:37 GMT

Singapore - The European Union would stick with its tax on airlines for their carbon emissions unless the global aviation industry can come up with a workable alternative, news reports said Tuesday.

EU Transport Commissioner Siim Kallas said there is a sense of urgency on the need for global airlines to put in place specific measures to cut their carbon emissions.

'The issue has become much more high-level,' he was quoted as saying Monday by the Straits Times newspaper in Singapore, where he is attending the Singapore Airshow. 'It has also become much more urgent now due to the declarations from countries to introduce retaliatory measures.'

The scheme has caused friction with the United States and China, which have threatened retaliation if the EU insists on charging foreign airlines flying in and out of Europe for their carbon-dioxide emissions.

The EU decided to go it alone on aviation sector emissions with cap-and-trade measures introduced on January 1 after claiming that international negotiations on the issue had gone nowhere over the past decade.

Cap-and-trade means that airlines would have to keep to a laid-out carbon emissions amount or would have to buy extra units from the carbon-trading market.

Jos Delbeke, head of the European Commission's climate change department, said last week that the EU is ready to amend the scheme if international negotiations on the issue progress within six to eight months.

Airlines would not have to pay EU charges until April 2013 - giving one more chance to agree on global measures at the International Civil Aviation Organization, he said.

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