Is the EU on the right flight path in tackling airline emissions?

As travel between Europe and the US resumed on Monday, world leaders continued to wrestle with climate change at Cop26 in Glasgow. There is no connection between the two events, but even as air travel continues recovering from Covid curbs, a new, potentially tougher, challenge is already manifesting itself.

That is, of course, the aviation industry’s greenhouse gas emissions and the question of its contribution to efforts to reverse or control climate change. One consequence will be levies on aviation fuel, which the EU does not currently tax.

The other is a commitment that by 2030 the industry will meet 10 per cent of its fuel needs from sustainable sources. Two years ago Aer Lingus and British Airways owner, International Airlines Group (IAG), committed to being net zero carbon by 2050, the first in its industry to do so.

Lynne Embleton, the Aer Lingus chief executive, notes that the industry is taking real steps towards tackling its impact on climate. These also include using more fuel-efficient planes and meaningful carbon offsets.

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However, she argues that the EU is taking the wrong approach to the industry. Instead of punitive taxes in the name of climate change, Brussels, she maintains, should introduce incentives for the manufacture and development of sustainable aviation fuels. The US is already doing this.

The industry maintains that sustainable fuels cut emissions without the need to introduce new engines or aircraft, a process that could take decades or at least run well into 2030s.

Consequently, it argues, boosting their use and development is a straightforward way of cutting emissions while maintaining all the advantages that air travel brings.

The EU has already decided on levying aviation fuel. Politically it is hard for it to justify doing otherwise as carbon taxes are a part of the bloc’s climate policy. However, it could be persuaded to aid new technology to cut emissions, including by introducing incentives for sustainable fuel manufacture. Either way, air travel’s post-Covid challenge is already looming large.