Dubai and Istanbul hit, while US and Chinese airports are exempt for now
Commercial flights connecting Europe with the Middle East and North Africa, and all departing and incoming business jets, should start paying the EU’s carbon price for the greenhouse gases they pump into the atmosphere, the European Commission said on Friday.
Instead of extending the Emissions Trading System (ETS) to all long-haul flights, which sparked a diplomatic row with Washington and Beijing when it was attempted in 2012, Brussels has proposed including only flights departing from Europe and landing within a 5,000-kilometre radius of Frankfurt airport.
This means that all the flights towards major neighbouring hubs like Istanbul and Dubai will be hit by Europe’s carbon tax, while routes to American and Chinese airports, and all incoming flights, will be exempted.
The application of the EU carbon pricing to flights landing in neighbouring airports is a first attempt to level the playing field between European airlines and hubs and their direct competitors just outside Europe’s borders, who aren’t subject to Europe’s stringent climate laws.
