ERA and AOA slam EU emissions trading deal
09.07.08
Airline and airport operating associations have slammed a decision by MEPs to back a proposal to include aviation in the EU's Emission Trading Scheme (ETS) from 2012. The move, aimed at cutting the amount of greenhouse gases produced by airlines, had already been agreed by transport ministers.
However airline and airport associations have condemned the move, saying it will 'substantially increase taxation on Europe's consumers, but will do nothing whatsoever for the environment'. The scheme has also annoyed the US, which has threatened legal action.
The scheme will mean that airlines would have to cut emissions of carbon dioxide by 3% in the first year, and by 5% from 2013 onwards. The vote was the last step to turn the proposals into law. The system will apply to all airlines flying into and out of the 27-nation EU, including non-European carriers.
Under the scheme, airlines will be able to sell CO2 allowances if they reduce emissions and buy them if their emissions rise. 85% of allowances to emit CO2 will be allocated for free, while the rest will be auctioned. The plan is expected to add €9 (£7.50) to the cost of an average flight by 2020, according to the EU, although airlines have said it will cost much more, with Ryanair estimating €50 (£40).
The European Regions Airline Association (ERA) estimates the cost of Emissions Trading for European airlines at €7bn (£5.6bn) in the first two years of the scheme, increasing progressively as the scheme continues. Estimated total costs over the 10 years to 2022 are €90bn (£72bn). It says that the European Parliament 'has no idea what the economic or social cost of the proposals will be and, even less so, their environmental impact.'
ERA Director General, Mike Ambrose said: ‘This legislation will impose massive additional costs on a transport industry that already has to bear unprecedented fuel costs. Even if the legislation’s questionable environmental benefits are ignored, it is a mark of failure of the legislative process that this legislation has been adopted without a thorough assessment of its economic and social impact: this is not responsible law-making.'
'That this legislation has been adopted without meaningful assessment of the jobs that will be put at risk and the communities that will be denied international access is inexcusable: that neither the Parliament nor the Council seems to care is indefensible.’
The Airport Operators Association (AOA) has called for the Government to rethink their plans to introduce Aviation Duty in the light of the ETS adoption. Executive Chairman of the AOA Ed Anderson said: ‘The European Parliament’s decision shows that the Government’s plans for Aviation Duty are redundant. By going ahead with Aviation Duty, the Treasury will be taxing UK passengers twice. This is completely unfair, and totally unnecessary.’
Ryanair’s Chief Executive Michael O’Leary added: ‘It is extraordinary that a bunch of MEP’s who swan around between Strasbourg and Brussels, enjoy huge expenses and flight benefits, would vote to increase taxation on Europe’s consumers in a measure which won’t have any effect at all on the environment, but will further damage European airlines at a time when oil is already $140 a barrel.'
‘These clowns in the European Parliament seem determined to destroy the European airline industry with these discriminatory taxation penalties. When aviation accounts for less than 2% of Europe’s CO2 emissions, and when airlines like Ryanair have invested heavily in new aircraft to reduce our emissions per passenger by 50%, there is no justification for this tax theft by the European Union.'
‘Aviation is not the cause of, nor the solution to CO2 emissions or global warming. Increasing taxation on air travel will have no effect on either emissions or global warming, it will just raise the cost of air travel for ordinary European consumers and their families, at a time when the fat cat MEP’s will continue to have their flights paid for from their excessive and over generous expenses. Is it any wonder that European integration is in difficulty, when instead of improving the competitiveness of European air travel, the European Parliament is further raising the tax burden on Europe’s citizens with these totally ineffective but very expensive environmental tax scams.’
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