Belgium, (Brussels Morning Newspaper) EU Parliament and negotiators agreed to tighten carbon market rules for airlines on Wednesday.
New rules will require airlines to pay more for greenhouse gas emissions, which will increase pressure on the sector to move towards fuels with lower emissions, according to Reuters reporting on Wednesday.
EU rules currently in place require airlines that operate flights in the bloc to pay for their emissions, but the EU still provides the sector with most carbon permits for free.
According to newly agreed rules, the bloc will phase out free carbon permits provided to the sector by 2026. The amount of free permits is to be cut by 25% in 2024 and halved in 2025.
The EU is to provide airlines that use more expensive fuels classified as sustainable with a small amount of free carbon permits until 2030 to help them cover the price difference.
MEP Sunčana Glavak stated “we stand with the sector through the process of the green transition,” which was not received well by Airlines for Europe (A4E), the bloc’s largest industry group.
EU industry group unhappy
A4E stressed that it was “extremely disappointed” with the new plan according to which the EU will phase out free carbon permits in 2026.
“This is well before truly effective decarbonisation solutions will be available at the scale needed for them to be effective,” the industry group warned in a statement.
The EU has been focused on taxing flights within the bloc, but EP and negotiators agreed on Wednesday to assess UN’s green push scheme for aviation in 2026 and expand the carbon tax system to all departing flights if EU bodies deem UN’s scheme insufficiently ambitious.
In addition, the bloc is planning to add emissions of other greenhouse gases and particulate pollution to the carbon tax system in 2028. Airlines operating in the EU are to start reporting on these types of emissions in 2025.
The newly agreed rules still need to be approved by the EU Council and Parliament before they come into effect.
Activists expressed dissatisfaction with the EU’s decision not to include international flights in the carbon tax scheme sooner.
