China bans airlines from joining EU emissions scheme
China escalates sky pollution war: crisis meeting called for 21 Feb when 20 governments are set to discuss their discontent with EU policy in Moscow
Non-complying airlines could have to buy penalty points at €100 a tonne of emissions if they fail to join the scheme by 2013... BUT the EU directive allows individual governments to tax their carriers themselves instead.
The Chinese government has effectively banned Chinese airlines from participating in the European Union's Emissions Trading Scheme (EU ETS), which was extended on January 1, 2012 to flights using EU airspace.
A statement from China's State Council announced: "The Civil Aviation Administration of China has recently issued a directive to Chinese airlines that without the approval of relevant government departments, all transport airlines in China are prohibited from participating in the EU ETS."
The Chinese government has also prohibited Chinese airlines from introducing ticket-price increases to compensate for the European scheme.