Tratto da http://www.atwonline.com/news/story.html?storyID=13177 (sottolineature mie)
-------------------
European Parliament reaches ETS agreement, includes non-EU airlines from 2012
Monday June 30, 2008
The European Parliament announced Friday that its members reached a compromise agreement with the Council Presidency on the inclusion of aviation, including airlines from outside the EU, in the body's emissions trading system beginning in 2012.
The deal, which angered airline groups (ATWOnline, June 11), still requires the formal endorsement of the full Council and approval at the EP's July 9 plenary session in Strasbourg. It mandates that all flights, regardless of carrier, that originate or land in EU territory be included in the ETS, although it said that "small airline companies producing low emissions are excluded."
Eighty-five percent of emissions certificates will be allocated for free "according to a common European benchmark," while the remaining 15% will be auctioned. The allocation will be designed to cut emissions by 3% from 2004-06 levels in 2012 and by 5% from 2013 onward.
The EP said revenues generated from allowance auctions will fund climate change mitigation, research on cleaner aircraft, antideforestation measures in the developing world and low-emission transport.
German MEP Peter Liese, the "rapporteur on emissions," said that while "global agreement is our final goal. . .the inclusion of third country flights. . .is a major step for the global fight against climate change." He added that "people should be encouraged to use buses and trains" and argued that taxes and charges should be reduced on such "low emissions transports."
Not surprisingly, the agreement angered trade groups both in Europe and abroad. Assn. of European Airlines called the deal "purely political" and said that it will have "grave implications" on European commercial aviation "but not necessarily beneficial ones for the environment."
AEA Secretary General Ulrich Schulte-Strathaus called the 85%/15% certificate split "arbitrary" and said parliament had "opened a Pandora's Box of unintended and unwelcome consequences for employment, services to regions and Europe's international credibility." He urged that plans for a Single European Sky be pushed through (ATWOnline, June 26), arguing that "it is unacceptable that we should face the prospect of having to buy permits to purchase fuel, at grossly inflated prices, to zigzag our way around Europe's patchwork airspace."
In a statement released Thursday in anticipation of Friday's announcement, the US Air Transport Assn. said the ETS would "siphon away from aviation" money needed to invest in more environmentally friendly technology and the inclusion of non-EU carriers "is a clear violation of international law" that "will be heading to the courts."
by Brian Straus
-------------------
European Parliament reaches ETS agreement, includes non-EU airlines from 2012
Monday June 30, 2008
The European Parliament announced Friday that its members reached a compromise agreement with the Council Presidency on the inclusion of aviation, including airlines from outside the EU, in the body's emissions trading system beginning in 2012.
The deal, which angered airline groups (ATWOnline, June 11), still requires the formal endorsement of the full Council and approval at the EP's July 9 plenary session in Strasbourg. It mandates that all flights, regardless of carrier, that originate or land in EU territory be included in the ETS, although it said that "small airline companies producing low emissions are excluded."
Eighty-five percent of emissions certificates will be allocated for free "according to a common European benchmark," while the remaining 15% will be auctioned. The allocation will be designed to cut emissions by 3% from 2004-06 levels in 2012 and by 5% from 2013 onward.
The EP said revenues generated from allowance auctions will fund climate change mitigation, research on cleaner aircraft, antideforestation measures in the developing world and low-emission transport.
German MEP Peter Liese, the "rapporteur on emissions," said that while "global agreement is our final goal. . .the inclusion of third country flights. . .is a major step for the global fight against climate change." He added that "people should be encouraged to use buses and trains" and argued that taxes and charges should be reduced on such "low emissions transports."
Not surprisingly, the agreement angered trade groups both in Europe and abroad. Assn. of European Airlines called the deal "purely political" and said that it will have "grave implications" on European commercial aviation "but not necessarily beneficial ones for the environment."
AEA Secretary General Ulrich Schulte-Strathaus called the 85%/15% certificate split "arbitrary" and said parliament had "opened a Pandora's Box of unintended and unwelcome consequences for employment, services to regions and Europe's international credibility." He urged that plans for a Single European Sky be pushed through (ATWOnline, June 26), arguing that "it is unacceptable that we should face the prospect of having to buy permits to purchase fuel, at grossly inflated prices, to zigzag our way around Europe's patchwork airspace."
In a statement released Thursday in anticipation of Friday's announcement, the US Air Transport Assn. said the ETS would "siphon away from aviation" money needed to invest in more environmentally friendly technology and the inclusion of non-EU carriers "is a clear violation of international law" that "will be heading to the courts."
by Brian Straus