US Whines, Screams On EU Plan To Control Aviation GHG Emissions - Reuters

[hatrack]

BRUSSELS - The United States is stepping up pressure on the European Union to keep US airlines out of the EU emissions trading scheme if a recent proposal to include the high-polluting aviation sector becomes reality.

The European Commission tabled a recommendation in September that all carriers taking off from an EU airport, regardless of nationality, should be included in the scheme in an effort to curb increasing emissions of gases that cause global warming.

The United States thinks the system should be limited to European carriers, said Sharon Pinkerton, a top official at the US Federal Aviation Administration, after meeting with EU officials this week to discuss the subject. She said the US questioned both the legality of including foreign carriers in the scheme and the science attached to trading rights to emit carbon dioxide (CO2), the main gas blamed by scientists for global warming. "We still think that there are very fundamental issues that need to be resolved," she told reporters.

The European Commission said such a move was legal and necessary to tackle global warming. "We have checked the legality of it and we are confident that we will not have a legal problem," Commission environment spokeswoman Barbara Helfferich said. "By 2012 aircraft emissions will have increased by 150 percent over the 1990 level. We need to do something about it if we are serious about climate change."

EDIT

Pretty simple solution here - $50 per ticket surcharge on US carriers using EU airports.

http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/33767/story.htm