Court Upholds Europe's Plan to Charge Airlines for Carbon Emissions

PARIS — The European Union’s highest court on Wednesday endorsed a plan to begin charging the world’s biggest airlines for their greenhouse gas emissions from Jan. 1, setting the stage for a potentially costly trade war with the United States, China and other countries.

A group of United States airlines had argued that forcing them to participate in the bloc’s potentially costly emissions-trading program infringed on national sovereignty and conflicted with existing international aviation treaties.

But in its ruling, the European Court of Justice in Luxembourg affirmed an opinion issued in October by its advocate general, who had rejected their claim.

The court’s decision comes amid increasing pressure from some of the biggest trading partners of the 27-member bloc to suspend or amend application of the legislation to expressly exclude non-E.U. countries — at least initially. Failing that, several governments have vowed to take their own legal action or retaliate with countervailing trade measures.

Read full article here

source article: nytimes.com
source image: airlineroutemaps.com