Brussels, 16/10/2013 (Agence Europe) - The European Commission brought forward a proposal on Wednesday 16 October that the European Union apply its ETS legislation (Directive 2008/101/EC) only to European airspace with effect from 1 January 2014 and until the market-based international mechanism comes into effect. This mechanism is due to be finalised in 2016 and will come into force in 2020, under the agreement reached at the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO). The Commission thus makes good its promise to draw the legislative lessons from the agreement reached in Montreal on 4 October to reduce international aviation's CO2 emissions by means of a global market instrument (see EUROPE 10937).
The ETS will continue to apply between all airports in the European Economic Area (EEA - the 28 EU member states, plus Norway and Iceland). And, between 2014 and 2020, flights to or from an EEA airport will enjoy a general exemption for the emissions produced outside EEA airspace. Despite the reservations of the EU, the de minimis 1% rule (complete exemption for developing countries emitting less than 1% of total global emissions) will be observed by the EU until 2020. However, this rule must not create a precedent for after 2020, warned European Climate Action Commissioner Connie Hedegaard.
Presenting the proposal to the press, Hedegaard said that, at the ICAO, it had been decided to put in place a global aviation mechanism, the details of which would be approved by the ICAO General Assembly in 2017, so that the system can begin in 2020. Now, she said, it had to be ensured that the 2016 agreement can be put in place with all the details surrounding it. In the meantime, Europe must, the commissioner argued, insist on its sovereign right also to regulate aviation inside and outside its own air space. She called on the Council and the European Parliament to approve the text as speedily as possible, by next March, in order to provide clarity to airlines.
Pointing out that, without the pressure exerted by the EU and without the controversy stirred up by the ETS among its third-country detractors, no agreement would have been found at the ICAO, Hedegaard noted that “the good news” of the Montreal agreement could have been better had more countries supported the European scheme to ensure that the aviation sector contributes to the efforts to reduce emissions undertaken in Europe not just from 2020 but right now.
The ICAO agreement recognises the right of states or regional groupings of states to have their own market-based system but says that the states or regional groupings must engage in consultations and bilateral and/or multilateral negotiations with other states to come to an agreement. Hedegaard, without ruling out these consultations, told a journalist who had asked her if the EU was going to open talks with third countries such as India: “All law-abiding countries must understand that we have the right to take the measures we want in our airspace. The other countries do what they want in their territory and their air space. The rest of the world will recognise that the EU has been constructive in international negotiations, that now we are adopting our legislation so that the atmosphere can remain good until 2016. I hope that our partners will understand the spirit in which this proposal has been made”.
In the European Parliament, Peter Liese (EPP, Germany), rapporteur, and Mathias Groote (S&D, Germany), chair of the environment committee, welcomed the proposal because it covers not only intra-European flights but also flights to and from non-European third countries, even if it is just for that part of the flight in European airspace. The regional approach proposed by the Commission is better than the “Stop the Clock” decision which, in April, granted a temporary one-year exemption from the ETS for inter-continental flights, they said. “A flight from Frankfurt or London to the new hub in Istanbul would be almost completely included. Under Stop the Clock, it is not included at all. The same is true for flights to the hubs in the Emirates, which are not included under Stop the Clock. Under the new regulation, at least half the trip would be included”, said Liese. In April of next year, the Stop the Clock decision will come to an end, hence the need to reach agreement between the Parliament and the Council, Groote pointed out. He added: “The EU is free to legislate within its own airspace and we are committed to include aviation emissions in the ETS”. The legality of the ETS directive under international law was confirmed by the Court of Justice on 21 December 2011. (AN/transl.fl)