The EU said it will resume enforcement if a UN airline body fails to deliver a global deal this month in Doha
The European Union will put on hold its rule that all airlines must pay for their emissions on flights to and from Europe, but will resume enforcement if a UN airline body fails to deliver a global deal, the climate commissioner, Connie Hedegaard, said on Monday.
The EU has come under intense international pressure to tear up its law making all airlines using EU airports buy carbon allowances on its Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS).
"To create a positive atmosphere, we have agreed to stop the clock," Hedegaard told a news briefing on Monday.
"If this exercise ends in nothing, we are back to exactly where we were with the EU ETS automatically," she said, adding that this would give the UN airlines body, the ICAO, until next November to strike a new deal.
The European commission, the EU executive, has repeatedly said it only put its law in place after more than a decade of inaction at the ICAO.
In a statement, she added: "The EU has always been very clear: nobody wants an international framework tackling CO2 emissions from aviation more than we do. Our EU legislation is not standing in the way of this. On the contrary, our regulatory scheme was adopted after having waited many years for ICAO to progress. Now it seems that because of some countries' dislike of our scheme many countries are prepared to move in ICAO, and even to move towards a Market Based Mechanism (MBM) at global level."
Hedegaard said EU member states would have to endorse the commission's decision for it to take effect.
- Emissions trading
- Carbon emissions
- Climate change
- European Union
- Europe
- Travel and transport
- Airline industry
- Air transport