Air France-KLM is battling new green taxes on top of the coronavirus crisis - in a test of growing policy tensions between righting Europe's crippled airlines and delivering on climate goals.The Franco-Dutch group, sustained by E10.4b in state-backed loans, faces higher duties in both home markets as well as EU plans to hike airlines’ carbon costs. The struggle unfolding around Air France-KLM is part of a larger reckoning for carbon-intensive industries as efforts to tackle global warming spawn more taxes and regulation. While campaigners say those are long overdue, crisis-hit airlines warn their timing and severity will cost thousands more jobs and hurt development of lower-carbon technologies. New taxes “do not support emissions reductions”, said Air France-KLM CE Ben Smith in response to proposed increases to French passenger duties. “In fact it’s counterproductive and would deprive us of finances that could otherwise be invested in environmental projects,” he told an online industry forum this month. Tensions can only rise as emissions goals are toughened to slow dangerous climate change. The European Union’s executive now wants to cut greenhouse gas output by 55% in the next decade rather than the previous 40%, from a 1990 baseline.<br/>