Latest news with #BastienBonnet-Cantalloube
Scoop
5 days ago
- Business
- Scoop
Sky Polluters, Time To Chip In! Citizens, Time To Cash In!
In 2026 the European Commission is set to revise its flagship climate policy, the Emissions Trading System (EU ETS). Currently, only 7% of the aviation industry's climate impact is priced by the EU's carbon market. However, successive public surveys show that there is strong demand from EU citizens for bolstered climate action, and for airlines to start paying their fair share. A new study by independent environmental consultancy Carbone 4, commissioned by Carbon Market Watch, simulates four potential strategies for how the EU might revise its carbon market rules in 2026 to foster further emission reductions and raise funds to enhance the bloc's climate policies covering the aviation sector and beyond. The untapped revenue of aviation pollution By confronting the aviation industry's full climate impact, our research shows that by applying the polluter-pays principle and expanding carbon pricing to non-covered aviation climate impacts, there could be a tenfold increase in EU ETS revenues between 2025 and 2040 from the aviation sector. Since 2012, only flights departing from or arriving at airports within the European Economic Area are subject to today's lax emissions charges. The report reveals that expanding the policy to price the pollution of all departing flights would at least double revenue generated, and as much as four times more should the EU reverse its controversial 'Stop the clock' decision. Furthermore, if non-CO2 aviation emissions - such as contrails or nitrous oxide, which can have a climate-warming effect three times higher than CO2 - were taken into consideration, this would boost revenue further. Similarly, 67% of the emissions from private jets escape the attention of the EU ETS. Removing existing exemptions would unlock significant funding for decarbonisation from this indulgent form of travel. 'It is scandalous that the aviation industry has skirted paying for its climate impacts for so long,' says Bastien Bonnet-Cantalloube, CMW's policy expert on the decarbonisation of aviation. 'The upcoming EU ETS review can set aviation on a decarbonisation flightpath and generate greater revenue to fund the bloc's climate policies.' Air fair Revenue raised can be returned to source by supporting industry efforts to adopt cleaner fuels, especially by making e-kerosene projects more viable. Proceeds can also be channelled to upgrade the EU's railway infrastructure thus providing a more affordable and cleaner form of transport than can substitute short-haul flights. Crucially, achieving a boost in revenues can help bridge the shortfall in funding for the EU to pay its fair share of the global climate target, which requires a mobilisation of $1.3 trillion by 2035. This should include supporting aviation workers affected by the transition in least developed countries. The time is now for the EU to uphold its climate values and principles. It all starts with charging aviation polluters fairly.
Euractiv
31-07-2025
- Euractiv
The Brief – Leave the shame for your flight to Rome at the gate
Flygskam – the Swedish term for 'flight shame' that was coined in 2017 – has plagued the conscience of frequent flyers since awareness of the environmental impact of aviation broke into the mainstream. With every journey, the mindful traveller must ask: 'How can I justify this cloud of emissions?' The ethical embarrassment has been fanned by a growing awareness of the carbon cost of choices that are often of our own volition. The sense of personal guilt is on the rise – a McKinsey survey noted that 23% of plane passengers felt shame for flying in 2019; by 2023 this had risen to 45%. After all, aviation emits 4% of the world's greenhouse gases each year. But European citizens need not worry. Unbeknownst to the activist class, the EU has long addressed this issue through its landmark carbon budget law – the Emissions Trading System (ETS). When it was created in 2005, Brussels established a long-term CO2 budget for the bloc. In 2012, this quota was extended to flights entering and leaving the EU. However, this limit was swiftly dropped until 2026 because it proved incredibly unpopular with overseas airlines. Thankfully, flights within the bloc remain covered. That means a flight from Brussels to Rome does not cause additional emissions. Instead, they count towards the total emissions budget for the bloc, putting intra-EU flights in competition with other polluters – be it coal power plants in Germany or steel works in Spain. If a greater share of the quota is used by flights, less will be available for other sources of greenhouse gas emissions. Previously, airlines could get their certificates for free (unlike their coal-firing competitors). But as of this year, their freebies have been halved. From 2026 they will have to pay for all that they use. That means the full cost of emitting CO2 by burning kerosene is factored into a ticket from Brussels to Rome. Naturally this prompts airlines to lobby for money, which itself is proof the system works. The next step will be to bring non-CO2 planet warming (trails from planes cause a phenomenon known as radiative forcing, trapping extra heat on our planet) into the aviation equation. Brussels already has a plan for how to do that. "The EU has a plan for monitoring the non-CO2 climate impacts of flying, too, with measurements beginning next year," said Bastien Bonnet-Cantalloube of pressure group Carbon Market Watch. This would have to "be complemented by a strong proposal to foster their actual abatement, like through their inclusion under the ETS in 2027," he cautioned. Flights into and out of the EU may be included in the ETS once more as well then, depending on how much the political climate has shifted since 2012 (this looks less likely). So when your uncle asks on Boxing Day how many times you've flown from Brussels to Berlin, point him to this piece and the indisputable fact that there are no flights cleaner and less harmful than those within the EU. Roundup Whilst Trump was keen to trumpet the "deal" secured with the EU, there is still much to be agreed . 'There's plenty of horse trading still to do,' US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick told CNBC on Tuesday. No corks popping – The US will go ahead with a 15% blanket tariff on European wine and spirits from 1 August, despite appeals from the European Commission and key producing countries to spare the sector. Burning a hole in their pocket – Smokers across the EU could soon face steep price hikes of up to €2 per pack under a proposed EU-wide tobacco tax reform – a public health measure that's sparking political pushback in some member states. Across Europe The Swedish government is calling on the EU to freeze its trade deal with Israel in an effort to pressure the country into allowing humanitarian aid into Gaza. 'Using starvation of civilians as a method of warfare constitutes a war crime,' said Foreign Minister Maria Malmer Stenergard. Corporate media drives censorship in Kosovo – With media outlets in Kosovo and the region increasingly concentrated in the hands of major business moguls, journalists say censorship to protect the owners' interests has become 'the norm' Zelenskyy U-turn on anti-corruption grab – Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy signed new legislation on Thursday restoring the independence of Ukraine's anti-corruption agencies, reversing changes that had sparked large-scale protests and criticism from the European Union.
