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On 7 February, the European Parliament’s Transport and Tourism (TRAN) Committee held a joint debate following the presentations of the opinions on the EU Emissions Trading System (ETS) for aviation (Rapporteur MEP Oetjen) and on the CORSIA (ICAO Carbon Offsetting Scheme for International Aviation) notification (Rapporteur MEP Zile).

MEP Oetjen underlined the importance of balancing the commitments to decarbonise the aviation sector with the need to preserve European airlines’ competitiveness in the current pandemic-hit environment. He outlined the main points included in his opinion, namely the creation of free ETS allowances for the uplifting of SAF, temporary measures to ensure level playing field in case of non-compliance with CORSIA by a third country, earmarking of revenues from the ETS exclusively for R&D in aviation and revising the rules safeguarding price stability of the ETS market.

MEP Oetjen's opinion was met with mixed reactions from the floor, varying between full support and strong criticism. On the one hand, some MEPs praised the Rapporteur for tabling many “useful” amendments, while others criticised him for not going far enough to protect the EU airlines and warned against the risk of passing the increased costs on to the customers and redirecting the traffic towards non-EU airports, where there will be no obligation to uptake SAF. On the other hand, some MEPs dismissed the idea of free SAF allowances as contradictory to the overall objective of the proposal and others still, on a more general note, questioned the exclusion of the military aviation from the scope of the directive.

MEP Zile stressed that while the main elements of the CORSIA scheme would be implemented in the revision of the EU ETS for aviation, a bridge proposal of a technical nature on CORSIA was necessary to implement Member States’ notification to EU-based airlines of the offsetting for the year 2021. The Rapporteur welcomed the proposal and its aim of minimising administrative burden for the Member States and air carriers, while ensuring compliance with ICAO and legal certainty until the ETS aviation revision is completed. The Shadow Rapporteurs agreed with the Rapporteur that the file should be treated as technical. Both Rapporteurs suggested that the two files be jointly negotiated in TRAN. The vote in the TRAN Committee is scheduled for April 2022.

Source: European Parliament