EU ministers are poised to agree a deal on aviation that would see aircraft emissions continue to rise and possibly hand a cash windfall to the airlines.
BBC News understands the industry will be allowed to increase emissions as much as it wants by the European environment council.
Aviation is the fastest growing source of greenhouse gases.
But Europe’s environment ministers look set to reject a plan for a strict cap on emissions from planes.
Instead, airlines will be given a set number of permits to pollute.
If they overshoot their limit they will be allowed to buy spare permits from firms who have managed to cut emissions elsewhere - manufacturing industry, for instance.
The ministers are expected to say this is rational, as it does not matter where emissions cuts are made - campaigners will call it a cop-out.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/7150758.stm
The European Commission has been forced to delay plans to cap car emissions across the continent after a heated internal row about the impact of the proposals on Europe’s car manufacturers.
Due to be released in the last week of January, the plan was thrown off course by a dispute between the EU industry commissioner Guenter Verheugen and environmental commissioner Stavros Dimas.
Iindustry critics of the EU plans have claimed forcing strict requirements on the car industry could spell the end of Daimler Chrysler, BMW, Audi and Porsche.
Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso stepped in to delay the announcement but said he backed the plan to reduce harmful emissions from cars in a bid to tackle climate change. ....
The stalling of the car emissions plan has been an embarrassing turn for the Commission, just two weeks after it pledged a new “industrial revolution” to fight global climate change.
http://old.expatica.com/actual/article.asp?subchannel_id=48&story_id=35931#top
