US backs airlines avoiding current emissions control
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Senate passes bill to shield US airlines from EU carbon-emissions law calls for ICAO- led global solution
Republican Thune bill aims to enable US airlines to avoid paying for their carbon emissions on European flights
The Senate has passed a bill to shield US airlines from EU carbon-emissions laws.
The US Senate has unanimously passed a bill that would shield US airlines from paying for their carbon emissions on European flights, stepping up the fight against the EUETS and pressuring the European Union to back down from applying its emissions law to foreign carriers.
All this year, the European Commission has been enforcing its law to make all airlines take part in its Emissions Trading Scheme, which aims to combat global warming.
Republican senator John Thune, a sponsor of the measure, said it sent a "strong message" to the EU that it cannot impose taxes on the United States.
"The Senate’s action today will help ensure that US air carriers and passengers will not be paying down European debt through this illegal tax and can instead be investing in creating jobs and stimulating our own economy," Thune said in a statement
Democratic Senator Claire McCaskill, the measure’s other chief sponsor, said, "It’s refreshing to see strong, bipartisan support for the commonsense notion that Americans shouldn’t be forced to pay a European tax when flying in U.S. airspace."
The House of Representatives has already passed a similar measure.
Nearly all airlines have complied with the EU law, but Chinese and Indian carriers missed an interim deadline to submit information required under it.
Earlier this year, China threatened retaliation – including impounding European aircraft – if the EU punished Chinese airlines for not complying with its emissions trading scheme.
The Senate bill gives the US transportation secretary authority to stop US airlines from complying with the EU law. But new amendments agreed to during negotiations among lawmakers said the secretary should reconsider the prohibition if the EU trading scheme is amended, an international alternative is agreed to or the United States implements its own program to address aviation emissions.
This increases pressure on the UN International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) to devise a global alternative to the EU law.
Connie Hedegaard, the European climate commissioner, said on Saturday that while the bill encourages the United States to work within the UN organization for a global deal on aviation emissions, she is skeptical that Washington will accept such a deal.
"It’s not enough to say you want it, you have to work hard to get it done," she said. "That means that the US needs to change its approach in ICAO and show willingness to actually seal a meaningful global deal that will facilitate action."
For more info on the EUETS see: https://www.travelmole.com/news_feature.php?news_id=2000141
AND https://www.travelmole.com/news_feature.php?news_id=2000421
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