EU unyielding on airline carbon despite US pressure
An airplane prepares to land in Congonhas, Sao Paulo's domestic airport, in 2009. The EU will go ahead with its hotly contested plan to charge airlines for carbon emissions despite US threats of reprisal, should it win the backing of the European Court of Justice, EU sources said Tuesday.
The EU will go ahead with its hotly contested plan to charge airlines for carbon emissions despite US threats of reprisal, should it win the backing of the European Court of Justice, EU sources said Tuesday.
"There's no question of giving up," an EU official told AFP on condition of anonymity. "It's been approved by the European Union."
The European court is to rule Wednesday on an EU decision to include from January 1 all airlines in its Emissions Trading System (ETS), which furious US, Canadian and other carriers say violates climate change and aviation pacts.
As the deadline looms, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton joined a mounting chorus of opposition with a warning of "appropriate action."
"We strongly urge the EU and its member states ... to reconsider this current course," Clinton said in a letter sent to EU counterpart Catherine Ashton last week, that was obtained by AFP.
"Halt or, at a minimum, delay or suspend application of this directive," she said. "Re-engage with the rest of the world."
"The United States stands ready to engage in such an effort. Absent such willingness on the part of the EU, we will be compelled to take appropriate action."
The European Commission, the EU's executive arm, refused comment on the letter ahead of the decision by the Luxembourg-based court.
(c) 2011 AFP
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Dec 20, 2011
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The reason that the US is opposed is because the EU plan would include forcing US based flights landing in the EU to pay the fees. Keep in mind that the majority of flights are cargo, not passenger (UPS, etc.) So, in order to get to Russia or the Middle East, we would be forced to pay fines to support the EU trading scheme or buy carbon offsets on their market. It is the equivelant of placing a trade tarrif on US based air transportation. Trade tarrifs are commonly responded to with an equal and opposite tarrif in return. The message Clinton is sending is basically "Go ahead, try it. See where that gets you". The net result of tarrifs is usually an increase in price for consumers, leading to an overall decrease in consumption, which eventually neutralizes the revenue from the tarrif and hurts commerce in general. It would certainly reduce emissions from air transportation, but not in the way they want.
Dec 20, 2011
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Dec 21, 2011
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See http://judithcurr...pdate-ii
www.ipa.org.au/pu...c-alarms
Dec 21, 2011
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