Post date: Nov 12, 2012 3:9:6 PM
EU Commission freezes EU carbon emissions law for airlines to make space for global emissions deal.
BRUSSELS, BELGIUM (FILE) (REUTERS) - The European Union will put on hold its rule that all airlines must pay for their emissions on flights to and from Europe, but will resume enforcement if a U.N. airline body fails to deliver a global deal, Climate Commissioner Connie Hedegaard said on Monday (November 12).
The European Union has come under intense international pressure to tear up its law making all airlines using EU airports buy carbon allowances on its Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS)."Finally, we have a chance to get an international regulation on emissions from aviation, this is indeed progress. But actually, to get there, a lot of though negotiations lie ahead of us. So, in order to create a positive atmosphere around these very important negotiations, I have just recommended in a teleconference with the 27 member states that the European Union stops the clock when it comes to enforcement of the inclusion of aviation in the EU ETS to-and-from non-European countries until after the ICAO General Assembly next autumn," Hedegaard said at a news briefing.
"If this exercise ends in nothing, we are back to exactly where we were with the EU ETS automatically," she said, adding that this would give the U.N. airlines body, the International Civil Aviation Organisation(ICAO), until next November to strike a new deal.
The European Commission, the EU executive, has repeatedly said it only put its law in place after more than a decade of inaction at the ICAO.
Hedegaard said EU member states would have to endorse the Commission's decision for it to take effect.