EU hits 'Top 10' airlines with historic carbon benchmarks

The European Union has announced that it will give airlines 85% of their carbon emission permits for free in 2012, under a new benchmarking scheme that will cap emissions at below their average for the years 2004-2006.
Permits to pollute any more than that will have to be bought in an auctioning scheme, or traded in the Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS).
The EU executive estimates that this will save 72 million tonnes of CO2 a year by 2020.
"We are making a fair judgement," said Jos Delbeke, the European Commission's director general for climate action. "We are giving a number of allowances for free to allow airline operators to make their aircraft and operating procedures more environmentally friendly and to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions."
Market analysts Point Carbon say that the Top 10 airlines will be hit hardest by the new scheme, as they face a 30 million-tonne shortfall in their CO2 allowances next year. Consequently, the €360 million bill will then be passed on to the consumer.
"A relatively few large airlines account for a really significant proportion of the scheme," Andreas Arvanitakis, Point Carbon's associate director told EurActiv.
Point Carbon singled out a Top 10 by shortfall in 2012 of: Air France, Alitalia, American Airlines, British Airways, Delta Airlines, Iberia, Lufthansa, Ryanair, United Airlines and Virgin Atlantic Airways.
The European Court of Justice is currently considering a suit brought by the Air Transport Association of America and American, Continental and United Airlines, which challenges Europe's right to apply ETS regulations to non-EU airlines.
An opinion by the Advocate General on October 6 is expected to give a sense of which way the Court will ultimately rule.
But protests have also been heard from other airlines in India, Canada and Russia with China threatening the EU with a trade war at one point.
27/09/11 EurActiv

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Categories: Foreign Sep 2011, Indian Aviation- In General Sep 2011