Airlines would remain exempt from paying for CO2 emissions from intercontinental flights until 2020 under plans backed by EU's members of parliament (MEPs), the European Parliament (EP) announced on Thursday.
The EP said in a statement that MEPs voted to prolong the intercontinental exemption from EU Emissions Trading System (ETS) rules until December 2020, pending the introduction of a worldwide scheme to offset CO2 emissions from air transport.
'However, from 2021 onwards, the aviation sector should receive only half of its EU ETS allowances for free, say MEPs, as against 85 percent today,' the Parliament underlined.
Parliament also wanted EU member states to earmark revenue from the auctioning of emission allowances for climate change policies.
Additionally, MEPs introduced an amendment to ensure that in the event of a hard Brexit, EU ETS CO2 allowances given free to U.K. airlines should be rendered invalid, so as to not to give them an unfair advantage over their EU competitors.
The report was approved by 601 votes to 69, with 26 abstentions.
Aviation accounts for approximately 2.1 percent of global CO2 emissions, and intercontinental flights account for around 1.3 percent.
International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) projections suggest that growth in air traffic will mean that CO2 emissions by 2050 will be seven to ten times higher than in 1990.
Within the EU, direct CO2 emissions from aviation account for about 3 percent of total emissions.
By Ebru Sengul
Anadolu Agency
energy@aa.com.tr