Could aircraft be confiscated for not accounting for carbon?

News Article - 10 March 2009
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By not accounting for carbon emissions, airlines could face having their aircraft confiscated, one sector policymaker has pledged.

Business travellers may be interested to hear that Mark Sinton, environmental protection, policy and regulation advisor at the Environment Agency, said the group had the power to take this action if airlines did not pay fines handed to them for failing to meet the requirements of the EU Emissions Trading Scheme.

The EU Emissions Trading Scheme caps net carbon dioxide emissions from aviation at the average 2004-06 levels and will come into force for flights arriving and departing EU airports from January 1st 2012.

Mr Sinton explained: "The EU Emissions Trading Scheme was originally designed to restrict emissions of carbon dioxide, the most prevalent greenhouse gas, from energy intensive industry and the power generation sector."

He added that failure to comply by paying any penalties would result in the confiscation of assets.

According to research from the WWF Travelling Campaign, if one in five business travellers in Europe used video conferencing rather than flying, 22 million tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions could be saved each year.

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