Airlines will have to report all emissions from flights

From January 2025, EU legislation will require airlines to report all their emissions. Until now, they have only had to report carbon dioxide.

According to a public consultation reported by Euractiv, flights to destinations outside the EU will probably be exempt. The requirement will cover emissions such as sulphur dioxide, water and soot. Efforts to limit aviation’s impact on the climate have so far focused primarily on CO2 emissions. In 2012, the EU included aviation in its emissions trading system (EU ETS), which sets limits on CO2 emissions and sets a price for every tonne of CO2 released. Emissions other than CO2—which are visible to the naked eye, typically as long lines behind aircraft known as contrails—can also have a significant impact on warming, so the EU has decided to regulate them too.

The EU was required to adopt a legislative framework for non-CO2 emissions by 31 August 2024. Specifically, a framework for monitoring and reporting aviation emissions was to be proposed by then. In the next stage, the emissions should be incorporated into the EU ETS. Under the published proposal that the European Commission put out for public consultation, international flights between the European Economic Area (EEA—the EU plus Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein) will initially be exempt for the first two years. However, according to the environmental NGO Transport & Environment, the MRV system would cover only 33% of emissions that affect the environment in Europe. The Danish government, for example, said in its public response to the consultation that "long-haul flights have the greatest impacts in terms of non-CO2 emissions because of the altitude at which they fly".

The European Regions Airline Association (ERA) said it saw a paradox in exempting long-haul flights given their environmental impact. Instead, ERA proposed that each airline should be able to apply for an exemption for a transitional period of two years. By contrast, the International Air Transport Association (IATA), for example, strongly supports an exemption for international flights. A similar exemption was initially applied in the case of the EU ETS. In the first phase, the rules were intended to apply to all flights, including international flights departing from or arriving at airports outside Europe. Following strong opposition and trade threats, the EU temporarily limited the scope of the EU ETS to flights within the EEA. This temporary exclusion of flights outside the EEA was extended, and international flights are now set to remain excluded until 2027.

For the Commission to formally adopt the proposal, the governments of EU member states must vote by a qualified majority. The statutory deadline for adoption is 31 August 2024.