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Despite protests from various countries, the European Union is going ahead with its carbon emission caps for airlines operating in and out of the region.
The Director-General of European Union for Energy, Mr Philip Lowe, said that the norm would come into effect from 2012 as planned. He, however, added that certain airlines would be given a grace period to meet the requirements.
“Allowances would be provided for the airline companies to come up with efficient and climate friendly aeroplanes,” he said, adding that “we presume that it would take airlines two to three years to make a start towards reducing emissions and by 2020 they should be in a position to use blend of fuel which is environment friendly and support use of aircrafts which are more fuel efficient.”
On the protests from Indian aviation sector, he said that some of the airlines such as Jet Airways and Air India have got a modern fleet which are sure to meet the requirement. At the moment, Kingfisher, Jet Airways and Air India are the airlines which have regular flights to Europe.
According to the norms, in the trading period from January 1- December 31, 2012, 85 per cent of the aviation allowances will be allocated free of charge to aircraft operators. For the period January 1, 2013, to December 31, 2020, this will be 82 per cent. The remaining 15 per cent allowances in each period will be auctioned and in 2013-2020, three per cent will be set aside in a special reserve for new entrants and fast growing airlines.
Mr Lowe is on a two-day visit to India meeting the Government officials and other stakeholders on a possible co-operation between EU and India especially in the area of renewable energy, particularly solar energy.
“We are looking for ways of entering the Indian market,” he said. But, the main concern of the companies from the EU were the requirement of mandatory local content in manufacturing of modules for photovoltaic projects. This norm was incorporated to give boost to the domestic industry in India.
Mr Lowe said, “The solution we have suggested is why not go for a joint venture between Indian and EU companies, which is the normal way of getting around this problem.”
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