EC Puts Aviation’s Negative Environmental Impact at €33 Billion

A European Union-level tax on kerosene, keeping aviation in the bloc’s emissions trading scheme (EU ETS) beside ICAO’s carbon offsetting and reduction scheme for international aviation (CORSIA), and promoting the use of high-speed trains are key policy tools​ that Brussels could consider to reduce the aviation industry’s environmental footprint and bring it line with the EU’s Clean Planet for All strategy, European Commissioner for transport and mobility Violeta Bulc told AIN on the sidelines of the June 1 to 3 IATA annual general meeting in Seoul. The commission has made no decision on the levy on conventional jet fuel uploaded at the continent’s airports, she stressed. A decision will rest with the next European Commission. “At this point I will not go into any premature comments,” said Bulc. “Taxation and fees are one of a set of tools that we were able to identify to ensure aviation reaches the EU’s target of zero emissions by 2050. Let’s see what other tools such as technology and alternative fuels will deliver. Maybe we will not need to use taxation.”

A new study—prompted by the public opinion of an “unfairness amongst modes”—into the negative externalities of transport per country reinforces the need for urgent action for the aviation industry, she added. This new research reveals that the environmental costs for aviation—such as climate change, air pollution, and noise—amount to €33 billion annually for the 33 EU airports covered by the study. The airfares charged by airlines cover roughly the infrastructure costs but not the environmental costs. “We cannot generate such high costs from aviation, or indeed any other mode of transport,” Bulc told the more than 1,000 aviation leaders attending the IATA summit. “In the future, I expect the aviation industry’s license for growth to be linked directly to the perception of sustainability.”

The €33 billion cost is “huge,” Bulc acknowledged to AIN. “We were very surprised by it too. We expected a smaller amount.” The findings of the research will be released to EU ministers on Thursday.

IATA director general and CEO Alexandre de Juniac expressed concern that the EU at some point will introduce a bloc-wide levy on kerosene, though he warned that such a tax would not contribute in any form to the reduction of carbon emissions of air transport. “I don’t think we will be able to stop it,” he told AIN, pointing to the increasing public scrutiny of the exemption of jet fuel as compared to fuel for road transport. “But I do hope that we will be able to convince governments to invest the revenue in projects that help decarbonize aviation” such as supportive policies to invigorate the sustainable aviation fuels (SAF) industry and uptake. SAFs, he said, can reduce aviation’s footprint by up to 80 percent.

He labeled punitive environment taxes as “climate hypocrisy.”

“Putting money into general government coffers does nothing to reduce carbon," said De Juniac. "And it undermines CORSIA.”

Commissioner Bulc vowed the EU remains fully committed to CORSIA because of the global effects of CO₂ emissions. However, “there are enough elements to support keeping the EU ETS in place when CORSIA comes on stream,” she noted. CORSIA and the EU ETS “can coexist” and need to pursue the same goals: reduce the carbon footprint. The commission is working on analyzing the situation and plans to decide next year whether to scrap or maintain the EU ETS for intra-EU flights. “It could, of course, mean that the EU ETS remains in place,” she concluded.