Anyone in the air transport sector who remains unconvinced by the clarion calls for aviation to be held accountable for its impact on the environment will surely accept that sustained increases in the cost of jet fuel have removed any remaining doubt about the imperative for the industry to make more efficient use of this life-blood commodity. And whether the climate-change deniers like it or not, airlines operating into and within Europe will soon be facing the additional financial burden of being subject to the European Union’s environmental trading scheme (ETS), which will require them to account for and pay for the carbon their aircraft emit.
The finer details of how ETS–which other industries are already subject to–will be applied to air transport are still being resolved, with the European Commission and the European Parliament holding different positions on issues such as what initial carbon credits airlines will be granted. In any case, ETS will come into effect no later than 2012 and by the time of the next Farnborough airshow in 2010 carriers will already be required to calculate their carbon footprint to be ready to join ETS.
