When the European Commission launched its controversial levy on airlines, by including aviation emissions in its emissions trading scheme from January this year, opposition was vociferous and surprisingly united.
Airlines and governments from the US to India to China joined forces to rail against what they labelled as a breach of sovereignty, even warning that the consequence could be a trade war.
At first the Commission stood firm, warning that threats of a trade war should not be made lightly. “It is not right that by threatening us they think they can make a democratic system change democratically made laws,” Connie Hedegaard, the EU’s Commissioner for Climate Action, told this paper in an interview back in March, insisting even if there were retaliatory action, the Commission would not back down.
Eight months later, however, things have taken a surprising turn: last week Hedegaard announced that — subject to agreement by the EU’s 27 member states and the European Parliament — the Commission planned to “stop the clock” on enforcing the inclusion of aviation in the ETS for flights in and out of Europe until after the International Civil Aviation Organisation’s (ICAO) general assembly meeting next autumn.
18/11/12 Vidya Ram/Business Line
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Airlines and governments from the US to India to China joined forces to rail against what they labelled as a breach of sovereignty, even warning that the consequence could be a trade war.
At first the Commission stood firm, warning that threats of a trade war should not be made lightly. “It is not right that by threatening us they think they can make a democratic system change democratically made laws,” Connie Hedegaard, the EU’s Commissioner for Climate Action, told this paper in an interview back in March, insisting even if there were retaliatory action, the Commission would not back down.
Eight months later, however, things have taken a surprising turn: last week Hedegaard announced that — subject to agreement by the EU’s 27 member states and the European Parliament — the Commission planned to “stop the clock” on enforcing the inclusion of aviation in the ETS for flights in and out of Europe until after the International Civil Aviation Organisation’s (ICAO) general assembly meeting next autumn.
18/11/12 Vidya Ram/Business Line
