Eco-Aviation Channel

ETS environmental patchwork confounds airlines

By Geoffrey Thomas
Eco-Aviation Today, September 2009, p.1

Confusion reigned as the Aug. 31 deadline for aircraft operators to submit their tonne-km. plans for the EU's Emissions Trading Scheme came and went amid growing concerns that operators could lose their free allowance allocations.

Filing deadlines for the plans were extended by Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Slovenia, Sweden and the UK. Bulgaria also extended its deadline as it had no "competent authority" in place to receive the submissions. The UK's competent authority, the Environment Agency, said it did not want submissions until Sept.17 and operators have until Nov. 12 to file their emission plans. France on the other hand stuck to the EU deadline despite finding one week earlier that instead of 513 operators, it has to administer just over 1,100.

Julien Dufour, CEO of SustainAvia, an aviation environmental consultancy, believes that many operators will miss the deadlines and says that, for instance, Russian airlines have been told by the Russian CAA not to submit plans until told to do so. The agency is against the EU ETS in principle and wants all Russian carriers to act collectively. Indian airlines face a similar situation, with all plans being sent to the Indian Directorate of Civil Aviation first for approval.

Dufour told Eco-Aviation Today that most member states have not transferred the ETS directive into law so penalties cannot apply in relation to the emissions monitoring plan. However, the Aug. 31 deadline was required for the tonne-km. plan for the granting of free allowances. He said most aircraft operators "have submitted their plans."

For a passenger, the emissions carbon tax that likely will result from the ETS for a flight from Singapore to London on an A340 with 250 seats would be €32 ($46) if the cost of carbon is €30 a tonne. For a much shorter sector, such as Athens-London on a 737-800 with 120 passengers, it would be €6.

Get Copyright Permissions Click here for copyright permissions!
Copyright 2010 Penton Media