EU:Aviation has to contribute to climate change fight

(Bloomberg): The inclusion of the aviation sector in the European Union’s emissions trading system is a “practical example” of steps that need to be made to prevent global warming, EU Climate Commissioner Connie Hedegaard said. “‘If we had only done that for European airlines only it wouldn’t be fair,” Hedegaard told a seminar in Brussels today. “Everyone agrees the aviation sector has to contribute.” The EU decided in 2008 that external and internal flights should be covered by its emissions trading system, known as the ETS, after airline discharges in Europe doubled over two decades. The European legislation offers an option to exclude incoming flights from a non-EU country if the nation implements “equivalent” measures to cut pollution from aviation.

China’s airline association said earlier this week that it “totally opposes” the EU’s plan to expand its cap-and-trade program from 2012 to include airlines, adding the initiative may prompt trade conflict.

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