China, India Mount Opposition Against EU Aviation Carbon Curbs

The European Union faced increased pressure to scale down its plan to impose carbon curbs on airlines after China’s carriers said they won’t comply with the rules and India signaled it may attempt to scupper the EU plan.
Europe should either scrap or delay its initiative to include flights to and from the region’s airports in its emissions trading system as of this year, according to the China Air Transport Association, or CATA. India may ask airlines to withhold emissions data, a civil aviation ministry official said, a move that would undermine the first expansion of the EU carbon cap-and-trade program beyond its borders.
“What we need to do now is co-operate together and pressure them to scrap this,” Chai Haibo, vice secretary general of Beijing-based CATA, said in a phone interview. Members of the association include Air China Ltd., China Southern Airlines Co. and China Eastern Airlines Corp.
The warnings by China and India follow a declaration adopted in November by the United Nations’ International Civil Aviation Organization calling on the EU to exempt international aircraft operators from its curbs on carbon. The non-binding ICAO statement was supported by 26 countries, including the U.S., Russia and Japan, who said that the expansion of the EU program was inconsistent with international law.
04/01/12 Bloomberg

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Categories: Foreign Jan 2012, Indian Aviation- In General Jan 2012