Global airline CO2 scheme will supplement, not replace EU carbon market: EC

The UN aviation agency's planned scheme for offsetting emissions from international flights will supplement, not replace, the EU carbon market, the EU's transport commissioner said Monday. With the UN planning a 2021 launch of CORSIA, its global scheme to help airlines offset their carbon emissions, some EU lawmakers and environmental groups want assurances that the EC will not remove aviation from the EU emissions trading system. "CORSIA will not put the ETS at stake. It will not replace the ETS. It will complement the ETS," Transport Commissioner Adina Valean told lawmakers on Monday. Flights between European countries are currently covered by the EU carbon market, which requires airlines to buy permits to cover some emissions from these trips. The UN aviation agency ICAO wants the EU to remove these flights from its carbon market so that CORSIA can be the only market-based measure tackling international aviation emissions. The EC has yet to lay out how the two systems will co-exist. Valean said the EC would assess the best way for countries to comply with both "EU and international obligations".<br/>