The European Commission has agreed to a compromise proposal over its plans to include the aviation industry in its carbon-trading scheme, according to a report in the Financial Times.
Citing an unidentified Commission official, the FT said that the US and Asian countries had reacted angrily to earlier proposals which would have seen airlines landing and taking off in the EU participate in the scheme. The US apparently threatened legal action against the EU over the plans.
The Commission had originally planned to include all inbound and outbound air traffic in its emissions-trading scheme by 2011. According to the FT, however, the new proposals confine the scheme only to travel within the EU by 2011, and then extending it to all air traffic by 2013. The proposal will be approved by the Commission on Wednesday, and must also be signed off by the EU member states and the European Parliament.
About a tenth of carbon permits will be auctioned to airlines, which will help to set a market price. Airlines will receive the rest of their permits for free, the FT said. Commission officials apparently hope that by then, a global aviation carbon trading system will have been set up.
