News: ELFAA hits out at long-haul exemption from EU Emissions Trading Scheme

Flights > News > # 1135 (02/01/2007)

The European Low Fares Airline Association (ELFAA) says long-haul airlines should not be exempted from the EU Emissions Trading Scheme.
ELFAA says limiting the scope of the scheme to intra-EU flights only will barely cover a fifth of EU aviation carbon emissions.
An ELFAA spokesman said: “It cannot be right to press ahead with a quick political fix which results in capturing only a tiny proportion of emissions. It is unfair and discriminatory that long-haul airlines, who are the biggest polluters, would not have to pay the cost of their emissions.
There is also a serious risk that the delay in incorporating long-haul traffic would become intractable and we would end up with an intra-EU only scheme. This would be a ridiculous result.”
ELFAA’s secretary general, John Hanlon, added: “The recent Stern Report put aviation's share of global greenhouse gases at 1.6%. While this is small in comparison with road transport's 27% share, the aviation industry acknowledges that something must be done to offset this.
“A well-designed emissions trading scheme is, without doubt, the most environmentally effective way to achieve this. It is therefore concerning that already the European Commission is limiting the initial scope of the scheme.”
ELFAA has been broadly supportive of the Emissions Trading Scheme, but is calling for it to incentivise efficiency and target inefficient producers by ensuring all flights into and out of Europe are covered by the scheme at the same time.
ELFAA members include no-frills giants Easyjet and Ryanair, alongside Flybe, Hapag-Lloyd Express, Sky Europe, Sterling, and Wizz Air.