While the EU carbon market is helping to clean up Europe’s power sector, industrial CO2 pollution remained stubbornly high, and that from aviation kept growing in 2019. This is partly due to overly generous handouts of pollution permits. These subsidies must be phased out to incentivise cleaner production and more sustainable transport as the scheme…
Airlines have been hit hard by the pandemic induced economic slowdown and travel restrictions, but are also using the situation as an excuse to lobby even harder against climate regulations. As the EU works on its aviation climate package, it must ensure that – like other transport modes – the sector pays for its pollution…
We joined the World Press Clubs Alliance for Climate launch event on Friday 23 October. Watch the interview with Sabine Frank here. Companies and governments are announcing “climate-neutrality” targets, and consumers are being offered ways to offset their carbon footprint. What does this mean in practice? How can we distinguish between real climate action and…
It’s been a rough few months for the aviation sector around the world, as most aircraft have not left the tarmac and major airlines are losing millions every day. But the industry has used the situation very effectively to push governments to weaken climate policies. The same governments are handing out multi-billion euro bailout packages,…
4 key takeaways from MEP Guteland’s draft EU Climate Law report The lawmaker in charge of the EU Climate Law at the European Parliament proposes that the EU adopts a 65% emission target for 2030 and carbon budgets in line with the latest scientific data. She also calls on all EU governments to endorse the…
This opinion article was first published in Carbon Pulse on March 30, 2020 As part of the work to establish an international carbon market for aviation, CORSIA, a group of experts recently recommended restrictions for the types of carbon offsets that can and cannot be used by airlines. These restrictions were adopted by the UN aviation…
Warnings about a shortage of credits under the future aviation carbon market are unfounded. The upcoming decision on what airlines will be able to buy must, therefore, focus on ensuring that only credits from high-quality projects are eligible. It is crunch time again for the ICAO Council, the UN aviation agency’s decision-making body comprised of…
In two parallel global climate processes governments need to finalise details for both international carbon markets under the Paris Agreement and the future aviation offsetting scheme CORSIA. Meanwhile, citizens are losing patience with their leaders that move too slowly in the face of a climate breakdown. Strong action is therefore expected from decision-makers if they…
Governments do not deploy energy and carbon taxes to their full proposal, the latest “Taxing Energy Use” report by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) finds, urging for higher pollution prices to effectively address the climate crisis. Pricing high-carbon activities is an effective tool for making polluters pay while encouraging them to switch…
The UN aviation body must urgently set robust, science-based long-term climate targets if the industry wants to win back the confidence of both investors and customers. Many Europeans are losing patience with airlines’ defensive attitude towards the aviation industry’s climate impact and are taking matters into their own hands – by choosing not to fly. …
Kaisa Amaral, Communications Director
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Carbon pricing 
International transport 
Climate governance 
Fair climate action