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BA boss demands aviation carbon trading re-think
British Airways has urged the European Commission to re-think latest plans for aviation carbon trading to create a workable model.
The airline’s chairman Martin Broughton said the Commission was considering a package that was “overly ambitious and self-defeating”.
It would delay meaningful action to combat climate change and weaken Europe’s airlines against competitors based elsewhere, he claimed
Broughton also called on the EU to reduce emissions by accelerating plans for a single European sky, and suggested a wider role for carbon offsets as a preliminary to full carbon trading.
Speaking a fortnight before the Commission meets to decide its next steps on emissions trading, he reiterated his support for aviation to be included in the existing European emissions trading scheme.
But Broughton urged commissioners to drop the current plan to apply the scheme to all flights into and out of the EU.
To ensure that a European scheme could be implemented as soon possible, Broughton called for a simpler approach, confining the scheme to flights within the EU and allocate initial carbon allowances to airlines free of charge – as had occurred for industries already within the scheme.
In a speech to the Aviation Club, Broughton said: “There is time to revise these proposals to create a simpler, workable scheme for intra-EU flights only.
“We believe such a scheme would be a critical breakthrough in the battle against climate change, and would establish a model for the rest of the aviation world to follow.”
Broughton said the aviation industry should make more use of carbon offsetting to “engage with customers” – many of whom had some concerns about climate change but wanted to keep flying and expected the industry to act responsibly on the environment.
He called on the International Civil Aviation Organisation to “show some leadership” by speeding up plans for a framework for aviation to be included in emissions trading schemes on a global basis.
Report by Phil Davies
Phil Davies
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