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Air cargo group welcomes emissions deal
[ March 26, 2014 // Chris ]The Global Air Cargo Advisory Group (GACAG) has welcomed the recent provisional agreement reached between the European Parliament, EU Council and European Commission (EC) on including aviation in the EU Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS). However, it regretted that, a few days later, on 19 March, the European Parliament Environment Committee rejected the deal.
Under the compromise text agreed by the EU’s institutions, flights to and from EU airports will be excluded from the ETS until 2016. GACAG says that the new EU arrangement respects the 2013 agreement reached at the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), allowing it time to develop an aligned global measure in time for its next Assembly in 2016.
GACAG said it regretted the decision by the Environment Committee, but as the text must still be voted on by the whole European Parliament at plenary, GACAG calls on the Parliament to overturn the Environment Committee vote and accept the compromise and ensure its rapid adoption.
The EC’s original proposal caused controversy because it planned to include the emissions of all international flights within EU airspace, even those to and from third countries.