Today the European Parliament’s committee on the environment sent a strong signal to the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) stating that if their scheme for reducing carbon emissions from international flights does not yield positive results, Parliament is willing to put flights leaving the EU under the EU’s emissions trading scheme by the end of 2020.

Seb Dance, MEP and S&D spokesperson on aviation emissions, said:

“Aviation emissions account for about 3% of the EU’s total greenhouse gas emissions and are one of the fastest growing sources of CO2. Emissions from international aviation are estimated to quadruple by 2050 risking undermining the Paris Agreement and the fight against climate change.

“The carbon reduction scheme put forward by the International Civil Aviation Organisation in principle deserves our full support, especially following US President Trump’s outrageous and short-sighted announcement to withdraw from the Paris Agreement. Yet, we can’t give a carte blanche to the ICAO before the real work has even started. The Socialists and Democrats call for full transparency of information and public deliberations on the carbon reduction scheme to allow all actors involved to judge its effectiveness.

“Today the environment committee sent a strong signal to the International Civil Aviation Organisation that if their scheme does not yield good results, we are willing to put flights leaving the EU again under the EU’s emissions trading scheme by the end of 2020.”