Plans still underway to charge airlines in EU for carbon emissions from international flights

Tommaso Lecca writes on the Politico website about the EU plans for extending its Emissions Trading System to include international flights. The move sets up a fight with the United States, which opposes carbon pricing.

EU doubles down on carbon tax for international flights

The European Commission says it will push ahead with plans to charge airlines for carbon emissions from international flights, despite the risk of tensions with the United States and opposition from carriers already facing high jet fuel prices.

The EU’s carbon pricing framework, the Emissions Trading System, currently applies only to flights within the EU, exempting routes to non-European destinations that account for most of the sector’s emissions.

This imbalance must end, the Commission said Tuesday, ahead of a much-anticipated review of the ETS expected in July.

The review aims “to make sure that we do have effective carbon pricing for the full share of EU emissions,” said Polona Gregorin, head of unit for transport at the Commission’s climate department.

Speaking at a conference with aviation lobbyists, Gregorin warned that the ETS could be extended to “departing flights,” meaning all journeys from Europe, regardless of destination.

According to Transport & Environment, if the ETS had applied to all departing flights last year, total revenues for the EU and its member countries could have reached €12.7 billion, roughly three times what was collected from the aviation sector in 2025.

The Commission’s review seeks to “apply an effective price signal to the EU’s fair share of international aviation emissions for extra-European flights,” according to a slide shown during Gregorin’s presentation.

The move would also affect private jet traffic, the Commission said the same day environmental groups called for restrictions on business aviation to save fuel amid the supply crisis sparked by the war in the Middle East.

Any carbon pricing extension would apply to both EU and non-EU carriers. “An important principle … [is] to ensure a level playing field between operators, meaning that on the same routes all operators — European, non-European — are treated equally,” Gregorin said.

Industry pushes back

Industry representatives reacted immediately.

“We really would like to urge the Commission not to extend the scope of ETS,” said Vincent De Vroey, aviation director at planemakers’ lobby Aerospace, Security & Defence Industries Association of Europe.

He warned that applying EU carbon pricing to U.S. airlines could trigger a trade dispute, recalling the backlash when the ETS was first proposed for international flights in 2012. At the time, a “coalition of the unwilling” — including the U.S., China and India — opposed the measure, and the U.S. passed legislation penalizing airlines that complied with the European ETS.

To resolve the impasse, the Commission suspended the ETS for international flights on the condition that the U.N.’s International Civil Aviation Organization would develop its own system. That led to the creation of the Carbon Offsetting and Reduction Scheme for International Aviation, which will become mandatory for international flights in 2027.

The Commission is now assessing CORSIA, with results expected by July 1. Depending on the outcome, it will decide how to adjust its own carbon pricing.

“Any ETS obligation would be adjusted accordingly, making sure that we don’t have [a] double payment under CORSIA and ETS for the same emissions,” Gregorin said.

Airlines favor relying solely on the U.N. system.

“We should invest in reinforcing CORSIA to ultimately make it the only carbon pricing system globally,” said Ourania Georgoutsakou, director of airline lobby Airlines for Europe. “Because global solutions are needed for global problems.”

Georgoutsakou also pointed to the ongoing jet fuel crisis, saying it highlights Europe’s dependence on imported energy.

Airlines for Europe — which represents Lufthansa, Air France-KLM and Ryanair — has recently called for a suspension of the ETS amid the fuel crisis.

The Commission has rejected that request.

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