Carbon emissions policy setback: EU suspends scheme

THE European Union (EU) has succumbed to international pressure to suspend the Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) that it introduced on January 1 this year. The ETS rules that airlines that land at EU airports will have to pay a carbon emissions tax.

Among the chief protesters are the United States, China and India – the last two countries actually banning their airlines from participating in the scheme.

Imperfect as the ETS may be, its suspension is a setback in the efforts to combat pollution and global warming. The EU commission on climate change had earlier said it was going ahead with the implementation only because international agencies such as the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) had failed to come up with any proposal. There is little evidence that while airlines brag about their commitment to the green effort, they are keen on any framework that would add to their operating costs, in spite of the EU’s argument that the ETS would add but only between four and 24 euros (US$1.27) to the price of a long-haul flight. To the airlines, it is 17.5 billion euros (US$22.3 billion) collectively over eight years.

EU Climate Commissioner Connie Hedegaard, Courtesy reuters.com

The EU is prepared to allow the ICAO another go at working out an acceptable framework, with EU climate commissioner Connie Hedegaard saying, failing which the ETS would be reintroduced a year from now. Having taken a step backward, it may be difficult to re-implement the veiled threat in the absence of a compromised solution emerging. The game belongs to ICAO – no doubt an unenviable task – so long as it can demonstrate progress, a little each time even if it is the mere act of meeting and agreeing to disagree, and the commitment to continually meet again to try and resolve previous disagreements.

Meantime, will Australia succeed where the EU has failed? The proposed date of its implementation of a similar scheme by July this year has come and gone. And lest it be forgotten, Qantas and Virgin Australia announced early in the year that they would be adding a carbon tax to the fare. Travellers would be wise to check out the component costs of their tickets – another controversial policy that makes you wonder why so many airlines are finding it so hard to be honest about what they are charging their customers for!