Aircraft operators assigned to the UK for compliance with the European Union’s emissions trading scheme (ETS) are already facing additional costs, even before the requirement to pay for carbon emissions begins in January 2012. The operators concerned are being assessed with so-called subsistence charges to cover administrative costs for ETS. Unlike most EU states, the UK is requiring its Environment Agency to recover these administrative costs in full and directly from operators.
U.S.-based corporate flight department Zimmer made just one flight to Europe last year in the company’s Challenger 604. This emitted 87 metric tons of carbon and resulted in a subsistence charge of £2,130.58 ($3,409) for the whole year. According to ETS consultant Shockwave Aviation, which assists Zimmer with ETS compliance, the equivalent cost to buy the carbon permits to cover this single flight, at average April 2011 market rates of €16.59 per metric ton, would have come to approximately $2,020.
