European Union moves to reduce aircraft emissions

By James Kanter

PARIS: One of the boldest attempts by the European Union to impose its climate policy on other parts of the world received a boost Tuesday when legislators voted to strengthen a plan to cap carbon emissions from aircraft flying to and from Europe.

The proposal mirrors an existing carbon credit trading system that the EU uses to combat global warming and meet its emissions targets under the Kyoto Protocol. Under the current system - which exempted airlines - governments set carbon dioxide limits for producers of power, cement, fuels, pulp and paper. Companies must then purchase credits if they exceed those targets. The new measures, approved by the European Parliament, drew immediate criticism from the U.S. government and from the airline industry. They argued that the rules broke with international aviation practices, would cost companies billions of dollars and could lead to sharp increases in airline ticket prices.

"Any sort of emissions trading system should be done on the basis of mutual agreement between governments," said Carl Burleson, the director of the office of environment and energy at the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration. "If one government wants to include another airline in their system, then it should come and talk to that government."

Burleson said the EU measures remained proposals, and so it was premature for him to comment on whether the United States would bring a case against Europe for unfair trade practices at the World Trade Organization. A spokeswoman for the U.S. Trade Representative had no comment. On the opposite side, some environmental groups criticized the measure - which still must be approved by individual EU states - as far too timid. But members of the European Parliament said that including airlines in Europe's emissions trading system would set an important precedent and could be emulated by other countries.

"We want a worldwide system as soon as possible," said Peter Liese, a German member who helped to guide the legislation through the assembly, which met in Strasbourg. "There must be an end to the status quo that nothing is done in the aviation sector, which has predominated for many years now."

Liese added that two-thirds of all aircraft emissions are from intercontinental flights.

Under the draft approved Tuesday, all flights arriving or departing from Europe would be included under the European system from 2011, rather than from 2012 - the date originally proposed by EU officials.

Airlines would be allocated some permits for their emissions but would have to buy more than originally planned in an auction. In addition, airlines would have to buy more than other regulated industries to compensate for the more severe kinds of damage aircraft are believed to be causing while emitting greenhouse gases at high altitudes.

The vote was a blow to the airline industry, which has been lobbying against the legislation and which branded the move by Europe as an ineffective regional attempt to tackle a problem that requires a global solution.

"Even if Europe shut aircraft emissions down to zero but didn't bring the rest of the world with them, it would have minimal impact on the environment," said Anthony Concil, a spokesman for the International Air Transport Association. "We fear that legislators have succumbed to winning political favors with a local audience, but that is short sighted as it could result in diplomatic and trade wars."

Liese said the EU officials had "very good legal arguments" for their plan. He said the Parliament approved amendments making it possible to modify the legislation in the future so that it could be made compatible with other countries, like the United States, if they came up with a comparable plan to tackle emissions from aviation.

The legislation represents another looming cost to the industry and to passengers, who would pay more for tickets at a time when airlines already are raising ticket prices to offset the rising costs from the spike in the price of a barrel of oil, which has been hovering at levels approaching $100.

As a result of high fuel costs, Air France said Tuesday that it was increasing its fuel surcharge on tickets by €2, or $2.90, per segment on short- and medium-haul flights and by €10 on long-haul flights. The airline said it would withdraw the increases when the price of a barrel of oil stabilized at levels below $80.

Taneli Hassinen, a spokesman for Finnair, said that his airline had calculated this year that the EU system would cost the airline €50 million each year. With the amendments made Tuesday, he said that figure would be higher still.

Passengers would face more expensive ticket prices as airlines passed through the costs, and he warned that European airlines would be at a disadvantage to overseas competitors that operate fewer European routes.

"For European carriers the worry is that this emissions system will probably have a certain impact on competition if the other guys - American, Asian, and African carriers - are not participating," said Hassinen.

The legislation still must be approved by Parliament in a further reading and by individual EU governments before it can become law.

Yet it was already being criticized by some environmentalists as insufficient to tackle the contribution that aviation makes to climate change.

"The legislation is inadequate and threatens EU targets for cutting emissions," said Richard Dyer, an aviation campaigner with Friends of the Earth.

EU governments agreed this spring to cut greenhouse gas emissions by as much as 30 percent by 2020. But Dyer said that the aviation industry was growing so rapidly that if it was left unchecked while other industries make cuts, it could become the industry responsible for the majority of emissions in Europe before 2050.

Dyer was particularly disappointed that under the EU proposal, jets weighing less than 20,000 kilograms, or 44,000 pounds, would be exempted from the system. That category includes many business jets, "We don't think it sets a very good example to exclude a very rapidly growing sector that ferries high earners around the world," he said.

But Liese said legislators had struck a blow against special exemptions by including diplomatic and other government flights in the system. "Governments have to set an example and should not have privileges," he said. Burleson of the FAA said that the experience in recent years in the United States showed that airlines could reduce emissions without the legislative approach taken by Europe.

U.S. airlines, Burleson said, were carrying more passengers and more freight than they were just seven years ago, and he said the industry still had been able to cut CO2 emissions by several million tons a year because of more efficient aircraft and other reasons, including improvements to air traffic management. Environmental campaigners say that even if fuel efficiency is increasing - leading to a reduction in carbon dioxide emissions on each flight - the number of flights still is growing faster rate than fuel efficiency is improving.

To be continue in other article...

(Jakarta, Kamis 21 February 2008, 07.39 pagi)

Re-publish by Jacob Paradox from link (www.routers.com),(www.iht.com), (www.routers.com), (www.nytimes.com)