COMMISSION CONSIDERS EXTENDING ETS TO INTERNATIONAL FLIGHTS
During a High-Level Stakeholder Roundtable on the EU ETS Review on 12 May, Polona Gregorin, Head of Unit for Mobility at DG CLIMA, confirmed that the upcoming review of the aviation ETS could examine extending the scheme to all flights departing from the EU, including international routes.
Ms Gregorin stated that “one of the main objectives of the ETS review is to ensure that all EU aviation emissions are subject to effective carbon pricing.” She added that this would depend largely on the Commission’s assessment of CORSIA, the global carbon offsetting mechanism developed under ICAO.
As recently noted by CLECAT (see news article) the current ETS Directive already requires the Commission to assess the environmental integrity of CORSIA and, depending on the outcome, consider whether the scope of the ETS - currently limited to intra-European flights - should be expanded. This review must be completed by 1 July 2026.
According to the Commission, any possible extension would apply equally to EU and non-EU carriers in order to maintain a level playing field and avoid double payment under both the EU ETS and CORSIA systems.
The aviation sector has repeatedly warned that extending the ETS to long-haul international flights could increase tensions with third countries and further raise costs for airlines and logistics operators already facing geopolitical and fuel price pressures.
Source: Politico Europe