Airline lobby wants out of EU ETS

As negotiators are hammering out the rules for a global scheme to slow the growth in the airline industry’s carbon dioxide emissions, the airline lobby is calling for an end to the inclusion of the aviation sector in the EU’s Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS), newspaper taz reports. The ETS has included the aviation sector since the beginning of 2012. In 2020, a global programme, known as the Carbon Offsetting and Reduction Scheme for International Aviation (CORSIA), is scheduled to take effect. To prevent airlines operating in Europe from being “double-counted,” the EU ETS must cease to be extended to the aviation sector by 2021, the president of the German Aviation Association (BDL), Klaus-Dieter Scheurle, said. The German Green Party disagrees. Germany and Europe must “go their own way and send a clear signal to finally make progress in climate protection in air traffic,” Green MP Tabea Rößner said.

Read the article in German here.

For background, read the factsheet Understanding the European Union’s Emissions Trading System, and the article Emission-free aviation is technically feasible – DLR Researcher.