NBAA Welcomes Final Passage of EU-ETS Prohibition Act

President Obama signed the measure (S. 1956) into law on Wednesday.

“With final passage of this act, the president and Congress stand as one in declaring that the EU-ETS is an overreach, it’s wrong and it won’t fly with operators based here in the United States,” said NBAA President and CEO Ed Bolen. “This is an issue that should rightfully be decided within the framework of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO). With passage of this measure, the United States government has said with clarity and conviction that it will stand in favor of international law and against the unilateral imposition of one region’s will upon the rest of the world.”

EU-ETS was unilaterally imposed on the aviation industry by the 27 member states of the European Union as a market-based solution to greenhouse gas emissions. Aviation operators were to have begun purchasing carbon credits for exchange on the open market by the end of April 2013. It was estimated that EU-ETS would cost the U.S. aviation industry $3.1 billion and thousands of jobs over the next decade.

Final passage of S. 1956 comes just a few weeks after EU Climate Commissioner Connie Hedegaard announced the planned suspension of EU-ETS enforcement on operators based outside of Europe. Hedegaard said she was encouraged by what she viewed as solid progress made on development of a market-based emissions control system during a Nov.9 ICAO summit.

“Together, NBAA views these developments as extremely positive for our industry here in the U.S. and for aviation cooperation worldwide,” Bolen said.

For more information on EU-ETS, visit http://www.nbaa.org/eu-ets/.