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Negotiations in the European Parliament on the European Commission’s proposal to revise the EU Emissions Trading System (EU ETS) are set to move forward rapidly over the coming months. According to a provisional timetable, eight political negotiation meetings between rapporteur Peter Liese (EPP, Germany) and the shadow rapporteurs are scheduled for October and November. Thirteen additional technical meetings are planned to prepare these negotiations, including during Parliament’s constituency week in October.

Liese is expected to present his draft report to the Parliament’s Environment Committee (ENVI) on 01 October 2026. ENVI aims to adopt its position on 01 December 2026, followed by a plenary vote during the session of 14–18 December 2026. This would allow Parliament to enter interinstitutional negotiations with the Council shortly afterwards. If no agreement is reached, the extension of EU ETS to international flights will kick in on 01 January 2027.

Parliament is preparing an intensive series of negotiations, with aviation emerging as one of the main political dividing lines. The Social Democrats (S&D), supported by the Greens/EFA, are calling for a full extension of the EU ETS to international aviation, pointing to co-legislators agreeing during the previous ETS revision that the scope should be extended if its international counterpart, CORSIA, had not been sufficiently strengthened by the end of 2025 or if participating countries represented less than 70% of international aviation emissions.

Centre-right and right-wing parties are opposed to extending the EU ETS to international flights and consider that these emissions should continue to be addressed through CORSIA. Under this approach, the EU ETS would continue to apply primarily to intra-EEA flights, avoiding an overlap between the European and international systems. The EPP warns that a unilateral extension could create diplomatic and trade tensions with third countries and affect the competitiveness and connectivity of European aviation. It nevertheless supports stronger assistance for sustainable aviation fuels beyond 2030 and argues that revenues generated by aviation under the EU ETS should be reinvested in new aviation technologies and the deployment of sustainable fuels.

The Commission has proposed a compromise between these positions. Rather than extending the EU ETS to all international flights, it proposes a targeted extension from 2029 to 2032 to flights arriving in the EEA from destinations situated within 5,000 kilometres of Frankfurt Airport. Hence, long-haul routes beyond this limit would remain outside the extended scope.

CLECAT is opposed to extending the geographical scope of the EU ETS to additional international flights and supports addressing international aviation emissions through the globally coordinated CORSIA.