BRUSSELS/WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The European Union’s landmark effort to charge foreign airlines for carbon emitted on flights in and out of Europe was already failing by the time French President Francois Hollande shared his deep concerns with the European Commission chief in October.

The U.S. aviation industry had mustered fierce political opposition, China was threatening to withhold aircraft orders from Airbus and the most influential European nations feared retaliation against their national carriers. Chinese and Indian airlines refused to submit emissions data; U.S. lawmakers were readying a law that could make it illegal to pay the tariff.

BRUSSELS/WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The European Union’s landmark effort to charge foreign airlines for carbon emitted on flights in and out of Europe was already failing by the time French President Francois Hollande shared his deep concerns with the European Commission chief in October.

The U.S. aviation industry had mustered fierce political opposition, China was threatening to withhold aircraft orders from Airbus and the most influential European nations feared retaliation against their national carriers. Chinese and Indian airlines refused to submit emissions data; U.S. lawmakers were readying a law that could make it illegal to pay the tariff.

WASHINGTON, Dec 4 (Reuters) – The United States could shed
more than a third of its carbon pollution by 2025 by giving
states the flexibility to use a variety of measures to reduce or
offset their emissions rather than setting a uniform national
performance standard for existing power plants, an environmental
group said.

The Natural Resources Defense Council called on Tuesday for
the Environmental Protection Agency to set state-specific
emission rates that would take into account their different
energy generation mixes. Power plants account for one-third of
U.S. greenhouse gas emissions.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A policy reform group plans to issue a notice on Wednesday informing the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency that it will file a lawsuit to force the agency to use federal rules to cap and charge for carbon emissions from the transportation sector.

The Institute for Policy Integrity, a part of New York University’s Law School, said it is acting because U.S. fuel efficiency standards are not stringent enough.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Barack Obama signed a bill on Tuesday shielding U.S. airlines from paying for each ton of carbon their planes emit flying into and out of Europe, despite a recent move by Europe to suspend its proposed measure for one year.

The carbon fee bill was the first piece of legislation debated on the House floor after Congress returned from recess on November 13, and had been cleared by the Senate in September in a rare unanimous vote.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The ball is now in the court of Republicans if the Obama administration is to consider including a carbon tax as part of fiscal reform efforts, a U.S. Treasury official said on Tuesday.

Gilbert Metcalf, deputy assistant secretary for environment and energy, said the White House has no specific plans in the works to introduce a charge on carbon dioxide emissions from the burning fossil fuels.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. House of Representatives voted on Tuesday to bar airlines from complying with a European Union law that would force them to pay for their carbon emissions one day after the EU offered to stop the clock on enforcing the measure.

The bill, which was the first piece of legislation to be debated on the House floor after a pre-election recess, directs the transportation secretary to decide to shield U.S. airlines from Europe’s carbon emissions trading system if he deems it necessary.

WASHINGTON/BRUSSELS, Nov 9 (Reuters) – The European Union
welcomed on Friday progress made by the U.N.’s civil aviation
body toward a global deal to cut carbon emissions from the
sector, raising hopes that the bloc may stand down from applying
its controversial law that forces all airlines to pay for their
pollution.

The governing council of the U.N.’s International Civil
Aviation Organization (ICAO), based in Montreal, discussed on
Friday how it could deliver a global approach to tackling
airline emissions.

By Valerie Volcovici

WASHINGTON, Nov 8 (Reuters Point Carbon) – A potential tax
on big polluters, a taboo subject in the United States in recent
years, has come back into the spotlight as some sense potential
for a revenue windfall at a time lawmakers look for ways to the
so-called “fiscal cliff” of tax rises and spending cuts due in
early 2013.

The aftermath of Superstorm Sandy, which devastated parts of
the U.S. East Coast last week, has raised fresh questions about
the links between climate change and extreme weather events,
which also makes the idea of a carbon tax more appealing.

BRUSSELS/WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. airlines, through industry group A4A, will lobby the United States’ new president as soon as he takes office on an issue that has triggered threats of a trade war.

All year, an international row has raged over the European Union’s decision to include all airlines using its airports in its Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS), designed to curb planet-warming pollution.