Inter-institutional negotiations will begin next week on what is to be done on the derogation to the EU’s emissions trading system (ETS) for inter-continental flights (the 'Stop the Clock' derogation) following the agreement reached by the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) in October 2016 to address CO² emissions from air transport through a global market-based measure (MBM).
Coreper, the committee of the ambassadors of the 28 member states to the EU, agreed on Wednesday 20 September to try to move this issue forward at the first trialogue (Parliament-Council-Commission) negotiations meeting scheduled for 25 September.
The second trialogue meeting could take place after the Environment Council on 13 October but no date has yet been confirmed. “Agreement is needed before the end of the year. The hope is that an agreement can be reached before COP 23” in Bonn, 6-17 November, a source told EUROPE.
The deadline for ending the derogation will be the main question to be discussed. On 13 September, the Parliament agreed an extension of the derogation until 2021 in order to put pressure on ICAO and to make sure that its CORSIA (Carbon Offset and Reduction Scheme for International Aviation), supposed to come into effect in 2021 in a voluntary pilot phase running until 2027, is indeed operational by 2021 (see EUROPE 11861).
The Commission proposed that the EU agree an open-ended extension to the derogation enjoyed by inter-continental flights from 2017 and prepare to implement CORSIA (see EUROPE 11718).
Nor has the Council set an explicit date for the deadline. It proposes extending the derogation for flights outside the European economic area, subject to an implementation review of CORSIA (see EUROPE 11814).
Among the other issues to be discussed by Parliament and Council negotiators are emissions reporting obligations and the review clause in the light the results obtained on implementing CORSIA.
It should be noted that, since the derogation expired at the end of 2016 – at the end of the second ETS trading period (2013-2016) – the Commission had to decide quickly on what was to be done with it over the third trading period (2017-2020). (Original version in French by Aminata Niang)