IATA: taxes don’t reduce emissions

Farnborough, UK – The International Air Transport Association (IATA) called on governments to abandon punitive environment taxes and instead support global environment solutions that will actually reduce aviation’s two percent of global carbon emissions.

“Taxes don’t reduce emissions. Only better operations and technology can do that,” said Giovanni Bisignani, IATA’s director general and CEO, addressing the Farnborough International 2008 Sustainable Aviation Briefing here.

“The airline industry is in crisis. With a fuel bill of US$190 billion - one third of its costs - saving fuel is a matter of survival. Still, Europe is fixated on punitive measures supposedly designed to reduce emissions. There is a rush to implement taxes. They all have an environment label, but do nothing to reduce emissions,” said Bisignani. He took aim at two punitive measures in particular: the UK’s Air Passenger Duty (APD) and the EU’s Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS).

“By 2010, APD could be a GBP3.5-billion (about US$7-billion) pot of honey for the UK Treasury. That’s enough to offset four years of the UK’s civil aviation emissions. The UK proposal will lead to market distortions. And governments - including the UK - are double counting.,” Bisignni said.

With regard to the EU’s ETS, Bisignani said, “We support emissions trading, but Europe’s unilateral approach is wrong. Instead of cleaning up the environment, this will create an international legal mess,” he said.