E.U. Postpones Charges for Airline Emissions

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The New York Times
Tuesday, November 13, 2012

E.U. Postpones Charges for Airline Emissions

By JAMES KANTER

BRUSSELS — The European Commission said Monday that it would seek to delay a plan to charge foreign airlines for greenhouse gas emissions for one year, potentially removing one of the most contentious issues clouding trade relations with China, India and the United States.

The system, which requires airlines using an airport in Europe to obtain or buy permits corresponding to the amount of gases they emit, had generated intense opposition among foreign governments. They accused the European Union of violating their sovereignty and unfairly raising the costs paid by airlines from developing countries by imposing its environmental standards on the world.

Europe had insisted the law was necessary because of a failure to control pollution from air traffic, which represents about 3 percent of global carbon dioxide emissions and is growing much faster than efforts to cut them.

Connie Hedegaard, the E.U. climate commissioner, said she had asked the Union’s 27 governments to “stop the clock” on the system for one year; the first payments under the program would have been due in April.

But she threatened to re-impose the rule if there was not sufficient progress in establishing a global system to cut the emissions.

“Let me be very clear: If this exercise does not deliver — and I hope it does — then needless to say we are back to where we are today,” she said.

The International Air Transport Association, an industry group, and Airbus, the European aircraft manufacturer, welcomed the decision. But some environmental groups and analysts suggested that Ms. Hedegaard had capitulated too quickly.

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