WORLD
International airlines will be charged for carbon emissions, EU court rules
Baku, December 23 (AZERTAC). Europe`s highest court gave unreserved backing on Wednesday to a hotly contested EU law charging airlines for carbon emissions on flights to and from Europe, a decision likely to escalate tensions with the United States and other trading partners.
All airlines flying to and from EU airports will buy permits under the European Union`s emissions trading scheme from 1 January 2012, the European court of justice ruled.
Wednesday`s ruling was in line with expectations after a senior adviser to the court issued a preliminary opinion in October finding the EU legislation did not infringe the sovereignty of other states and was compatible with international agreements.
The case was initially brought to the London high court of justice by the Air Transport Association of America, American Airlines and United Continental, but the London court referred it to the court in Luxembourg.
Critics of the EU rules have argued that under the 1997 Kyoto protocol, countries agreed to address emissions from aviation jointly through the UN`s aviation body, the International Civil Aviation Organisation.
While emissions from most other sectors have been falling, those from airlines have doubled since 1990 and could triple by 2020, commission figures show.
The EU carbon market pared losses immediately after the ruling, but stayed negative.
The court ruling is final, although there is some flexibility in how the regulation may be applied. Airlines initially would only be required to pay for 15% of the carbon they emit and would be allocated free allowances to cover the other 85%.
The law also allows for "equivalent measures", meaning incoming flights to Europe would be exempt if the nation from which they came had measures in place to offset the international emissions of the route.
Depending on decisions by airlines on how much to pass on to customers, the European commission has calculated that costs per passenger could rise between €2 and €12, much less than the €100 per allowance penalty it would impose on airlines that do not comply.