Environment Forum
Global environmental challenges
A clear and fair incentive to pollute less
Connie Hedegaard is EU Commissioner for Climate Action. Any opinions expressed are her own.
This week the U.S. House of Representatives passed a rather unusual bill directly addressed to Europe.
Through the European Union Emissions Trading Scheme Prohibition Act H.R. 2594, America’s legislators want to tell American airlines not to respect an EU law.
This seems to me a rather unorthodox course of action, but here in the EU we are confident that in the end the United States will respect our legislation, just as the EU respects U.S. legislation and U.S. lawmakers’ authority in U.S. airports.
After all, there is nothing new or unusual in requiring airlines to meet certain rules which, given the global nature of the industry, have international ramifications.
As Congressmen who opposed the House bill pointed out, the United States itself requires international airlines to comply with a wide range of U.S. laws when it comes to passenger, baggage and cargo security in order to do business in the U.S. Other laws also require overseas ports to put in place certain security measures before cargo can be sent to the U.S.
If the U.S. wants to handle emissions from aviation differently, that is fine; our legislation clearly envisages that if a country outside the EU takes ‘equivalent measures’ to address aviation emissions then all incoming flights from that country can be exempted from the EU system.
I hardly use any carbon, I travel most places by bicycle, now why should i be taxed for flying once a year when the rest of the year i use hardly any carbon?