The European Union’s (E.U’s) planned climate change legislation on Monday has continued to elicit reactions from an alliance of airlines and airports which called for changes to the proposed legislation, claiming that if enacted it in its present form it will make them less competitive with non-European competitors.
It would be recalled that the EU had presented plans last July that foresee stricter rules on CO2 emissions and the use of synthetic fuel blends, as well as the implementation of a kerosene tax. The plans partly aim at aviation, a sector deemed responsible for up to 3% of global emissions,
The alliance of airlines and airports, whose nearly 20 members include Lufthansa subsidiaries, Air France-KLM and major airports such as Frankfurt and Amsterdam’s Schipol, argues that long-haul flights via non-European hubs would not be subjected to the same associated costs and thus lead to a potential shift in business to such carriers.
Specifically, the alliance rejected a kerosene tax outright and proposed that the environmental protection surcharge be based on the entire flight route and not just feeder flights bringing passengers from the EU to international hubs such as Istanbul or Dubai.
Despite the alliance’s opposition to kerosene tax, the members in principle support the EU’s “Fit for 55” climate package, which aims to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 55 percent by 2030 compared with 1990 levels.
As part of the European Green Deal, with the European Climate Law, the EU has set a binding target of achieving climate neutrality by 2050.
The deal requires current greenhouse gas emission levels to drop significantly in the next decades. For instance, as an intermediate step towards climate neutrality, the EU has raised its 2030 climate ambition, committing to cutting emissions by at least 55 percent by 2030.
The EU is working on the revision of its climate, energy and transport-related legislation under the so-called ‘Fit for 55 package’ in order to align current laws with the 2030 and 2050 ambitions.
