European airlines face prospect of finally having to pay tax on jet fuel

EU finance ministers are set to endorse a revamp of energy-taxation laws that could end exemptions for jet fuel while promoting cleaner forms of energy, as the bloc steps up efforts to cut carbon emissions. Ministers meeting in Brussels on Dec. 5 will ask the EC to present updated rules on the taxation of biofuels and sectors such as aviation, “taking into account their specificities and existing exemptions,” according to a draft of their communique. The wording signals that the preferential tax treatment of aviation fuel could be phased out, under a new set of regulations. Tackling transport emissions is one of the biggest challenges for the EU, which is weighing a commitment to climate neutrality by 2050. Carbon discharges from international aviation have more than doubled since 1990, bucking a broader European trend that’s seen total emissions drop 22% over that period. The UN says the industry is set to overtake power generation as the single biggest CO2 producer within three decades. The existing energy-taxation law, unchanged since 2003, was “adopted long before the emergence of new technologies and uses that are predicted to become important building blocks on the path to the EU’s decarbonised future,” the commission said in September.<br/>