China bars airlines from EU carbon tax

Even though the domestic and international backlash has been significant, today's news that the EU has suspended its airline carbon emissions tax remains pretty surprising: The EU will suspend for one year a controversial policy of charging foreign airlines for their carbon emissions on flights to and from Europe, citing progress in negotiations towards a global regime to tackle pollution by the aviation industry.

The EU's implementation of new regulations imposing a tax on airlines based on their carbon emissions has resulted in a firestorm of litigation and international teeth-gnashing.  The EU's steadfast commitment to assess the tax also has led many to speculate that the system could set off a "trade war" among nations as they impose similar retaliatory fees on EU-based airlines that enter their airspace.

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - India will urge its airlines to boycott the European Union's carbon charge scheme, raising the prospect of a global trade war over a law requiring flights in and out of Europe to pay for their greenhouse gas emissions. A senior Indian government official told Reuters that India would soon ask local airlines not to buy carbon credits from or share emissions data with the bloc, which says other countries are not doing enough to tackle this source of greenhouse gases. ...

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - India will urge its airlines to boycott the European Union's carbon charge scheme, raising the prospect of a global trade war over a law requiring flights in and out of Europe to pay for their greenhouse gas emissions.

Chinese airlines will not pay European Union carbon emissions charges that came into force on January 1, a national aviation industry group said Thursday.The EU launched the Emissions Trading System (ETS) in 2005 in a bid to reduce carbon emissions of power stations and industrial plants, and extended the scheme to airlines from Sunday.The move means airlines have to buy pollution permits to fly in Europe under a cap-and-trade scheme that has angered the US and Chinese governments and airlines worldwide.

China on Wednesday criticised European Union plans to charge airlines for carbon emissions, accusing it of "unilaterally" introducing the new tax.Airlines, which contribute 3.0 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions, will be included in the EU's carbon trading market on January 1.China has said it fears its aviation sector will have to pay an additional 800 million yuan (about $125 million) a year on flights originating or landing in Europe, and that the cost could be almost four times higher by 2020.

India will urge its airlines to boycott the European Union's carbon charge scheme, raising the prospect of a global trade war over a law requiring flights in and out of Europe to pay for their greenhouse ...