India bans its airlines from paying EU carbon tax

Indian airlines will not to comply with the European Union's (EU) carbon taxation scheme, according to civil aviation minister Ajit Singh.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper has vilified political opponents who support a tax on carbon-dioxide emissions. The oil sands industry, Canada’s fastest growing CO2 polluter, says he’s out of step. The contradiction of an industry seeking a new tax on itself has emerged in energy-rich Canada because producers are concerned the crude they process from tar-like sands will be barred from foreign markets for releasing more carbon in its production than competing fossil fuels. At least with a tax, you know what you’re getting

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - Ailing Indian carrier Kingfisher Airlines will not be allowed to fly if safety rules are not followed, Civil Aviation Minister Ajit Singh said, after labor unrest forced the carrier to cancel its flights on Monday. Singh said the civil aviation regulator will meet Kingfisher executives on Tuesday. He said the airline had canceled all its flights thus far on Monday. (Reporting by Anurag Kotoky; Editing by Tony Munroe)

All regulatory clearances for the impending deal between Etihad Airways and Jet Airways — where the UAE-based airline will pick around 24% stake in the Indian carrier — will be granted in the next two weeks, Union civil aviation minister Ajit Singh said on Wednesday.

India said it may stop European carriers from flying into the country if the European Union bans airlines from the South Asian nation that boycott the EU's new emissions fee system."We will take retaliatory actions to counter steps taken by the EU. If Europe bans our carriers we will ban theirs as well," the senior government official, who did not want to be named, told reporters late Friday.The EU in mid-May gave India and China a month to comply with the airline carbon emissions fee system across the 27-nation bloc, or face penalties for flights into and out of Europe.

The European Union will maintain its carbon tax imposed on airlines operating in its airspace, the Danish climate minister said, despite retaliatory trade measures by China.As long as an international policy on carbon emissions by airlines is not found, the "EU will stick to its own ETS system", Martin Lidegaard said on Friday. Denmark currently holds the EU's rotating presidency.The carbon tax imposed on airlines by the European Union came into effect on January 1, but carriers will begin receiving bills only in 2013 after this year's carbon emissions have been assessed.

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. ...