It seems Chinese airlines think they're above the law when it comes to the EU. At least according to the China Air Transport Association, who said this week its members will ignore the European Union's new Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS), which levies a charge on flights based on their carbon emissions.
The China Air Transport Association's members include Chinese airlines such as Air China, China Southern Airlines, China Eastern Airlines and Hainan Airlines. It seems like a boycott of all these airlines, and other airlines out of China, might be in order, at least by those of us who believe a) the EU has a right to charge airlines whose carbon emissions are high, b) are concerned about the environment and c) aren't going to put up with Chinese threats or bullying for two seconds.
The European Union itself says its not backing down, so it's unclear where the China Air Transport Association thinks it's going with this. The EU has the right to not only fine airlines for refusing to abide by the ETS, but can also block them from flying into European air space, and that will be much more expensive for Chinese airlines than the initial ETS charges they're complaining about.
So what do these Chinese airlines plan on doing, we might ask? Making their passengers throw out their luggage and then parachute out of planes after it, right before they hit EU airspace, as they won't be allowed to fly into Europe or to land? As, if they refuse to pay into the ETS, that would be about their only option.
The new system is actually very fair. Each airline would buy a certain number of credits, to be used throughout the year. An initial 85% of credits would be given to them free, with the other 15% to be paid for. If airlines don't use all their credits, they can sell them to another airline to use. If they need more, they can buy from another airline that doesn't need them, or from the EU itself. The idea is, if airlines know they're going to have to pay for carbon emissions, they'll keep them as low as they can.
The EU has also kept the cost low, with each airline not needing to add more than around 2 euros per ticket onto the cost of a flight. (But, airlines being as greedy as they are, you can guarantee they'll add a lot more and then blame the EU for it).
But, let's face it. China isn't going to win this, even though they're already threatening retaliation. The US has already tried to get out of paying the tax, as it decided it too didn't want to pay. The US Air Transport Association even took the issue to the European Court of Justice, which turned down its request at the end of last year. The rest of Europe is standing firm too.
China? Your turn next in court, we presume.
