With aviation’s effect on the environment garnering closer attention, regional airline delegates received fair warning from European Regions Airline Association (ERA) director general Mike Ambrose at their general assembly in Athens, Greece, last month to expect “massively increased pressure.” He said that airlines in the region accept the proposed European emissions trading scheme (ETS) as the “least harmful” economic instrument proposed as a way of offsetting damage.
Ambrose said that environmental impact assessments were seriously flawed by a lack of objectivity because the consultants advising policy makers also produced the impact statements. The environment poses a “complex multi-dimensional problem” for which proposed solutions often are “simple [and] uni-dimensional,” according to Ambrose, who claimed many European Parliament members have “no interest in the negative effects of the ETS.” He pointed out that while leading nations such as Brazil, China and the U.S. provide strong resistance to emissions trading, some states see public environmental concerns simply as an opportunity to raise additional tax revenue.
