Airlines falling into line over ETS

Almost all commercial airlines operating in Europe have reported their carbon dioxide emissions to the European Commission on time. The Commission will use the figures for a ‘dry run’, before beginning to charge airlines for pollution under the Emissions Trading Scheme from next year. Submissions were received despite the fact that these emissions do not trigger obligations to surrender allowances this year and are not needed for specific regulatory purposes. More than 1,200 emissions reports for 2011 have been submitted by airlines. However, there has been systematic non-reporting of 2011 emissions from flights to or from EU airports by airlines based in China and India. Chinese government officials have barred airlines from reporting emissions to the Commission. This concerns ten commercial airlines that are currently operating to or from the EU, representing less than one per cent of emission reports and less than three per cent of emissions, the Commission said. The requirement for airlines to report 2011 emissions by March this year was a dry run for next year, when the 2012 emissions they report by March 2013 will enter the ETS. Failure to comply next year could see airlines hit with penalties of €100 per tonne of CO2 emitted.