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The end of cheap flights.

Air­line pas­sen­gers face higher fares under newly strengthened EU rules designed to tackle avi­ation

Airplane on sunset

emis­sions in a sign that the era of super low-cost flights may be about to end. The EU wants to force car­bon­in­tens­ive indus­tries to pay more for their pol­lu­tion with ticket prices rising as much as €10 per return flight because of increased levies on avi­ation emis­sions, accord­ing to ana­lysts. EU law­makers have given ini­tial approval to an update of the bloc’s car­bon pri­cing rules, for­cing indus­tries includ­ing avi­ation to buy enough allow­ances to cover their pol­lu­tion under the emis­sions trad­ing sys­tem. The total num­ber of allow­ances in the sys­tem will also fall over time, which ana­lysts expect to drive up prices.

The price of allow­ances in the EU sys­tem was trad­ing at close to their all­time highs, near €100 a tonne on Fri­day. Rev­en­ues from the ETS will be put towards schemes to boost the use of sus­tain­able avi­ation fuels. Europe’s emis­sions trad­ing sys­tem is a flag­ship ele­ment of the EU’s plan to cut green­house gas emis­sions by 55 per cent by 2030, com­pared with 1990 levels. Envir­on­mental groups said the scheme was an effect­ive way to con­trol car­bon emis­sions.

«Car­bon pri­cing is an essen­tial tool for emis­sions reduc­tion in Europe. it’s only right that air­lines pay their fair share for emis­sions,» said Jo Dardenne, avi­ation dir­ector at Trans­port & Envir­on­ment, an NGO. Bas Eick­hout, a Green MEP, has pushed for free allow­ances to be phased out as soon as pos­sible, call­ing them a «fossil fuel sub­sidy».

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Comments

  1. Alexa13 February 2023 at 10:31

    Carbon pricing should be a norm everywhere, in everything. We should pay a higher price for activities that hurt the planet. We should be allowed to do some of them but we should also pay the real price for it and not a "reduced" price.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Marco13 February 2023 at 10:52

      Seth Godin spoke about this a while back saying that we must put a monetary value on pollution. The biggest problem is that plastic is so cheap and that's why we use it so much. Pay the real price for plastic (which includes the pollution it brings) and then we won't use it as much. Carbon pricing works in the same way.

      Delete
    2. Erica B.13 February 2023 at 12:15

      Exactly! Seth Godin is right. Until we pay the real prices for our actions and materials we won't get anywhere. Cheap flights should be a thing of the past as is plastic usage. Make it so it's expensive to use plastic and at the same time find alternatives that are as good or better.

      Delete
  2. DJ13 February 2023 at 14:17

    Sorry to see cheap flights going away but I understand why this must happen. For too long we have just thought about our wallets and our own pleasures and didn't stop to think what will happen to this planet in 30-50 years from now? Where will our kids and grandkids live if we continue like this?

    ReplyDelete

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