Commission sets emissions data for the calculation of aviation allowances in the EU trading system
The European Commission has set the historical aviation emissions at 219,476,343 tonnes of CO2, for the purposes of the calculation of the total number of aviation allowances to be available from 2012. This Commission's Decision represents a decisive step for the inclusion of aviation in the EU's emissions trading system (EU ETS) from 1 January 2012.
To mitigate the climate impacts of aviation, the European Union has decided to impose a cap on CO2 emissions from flights operating to and from European airports. From the start of 2012, some 4,000 aircraft operators arriving and departing in the EU will be covered by the European Union Emissions Trading System (ETS).
In order to calculate the number of total aviation allowances for the coming year, the European Commission has set the average of the estimated annual emissions for the years 2004, 2005 and 2006 of all flights that would be covered by the EU ETS performed by aircraft operators to and from European airports. This data on the historical aviation emissions has been calculated in 219,476,343 tonnes of CO2.
Aviation allowances to be created for year 2012 and 2013
Based on this figure for average annual aviation emissions in 2004-2006, the number of aviation allowances to be created in 2012 will be to 212,892,052 tonnes of CO2, and the number of aviation allowances to be created each year from 2013 onwards amounts to 208,502,525 tonnes of CO2.
Later this year, as foreseen in the EU ETS Directive, the Commission will formally determine the amounts of emission allowances to be auctioned, to be distributed free of charge to aircraft operators and to be allocated to a special reserve for new entrants.
How are calculated historical aviation emissions data?
The calculation of historic aviation emissions was based on data from the European Organisation for the Safety of Air Navigation (Eurocontrol) and actual fuel consumption information provided by aircraft operators. Additional calculations were carried out to account for fuel consumption associated with the use of the auxiliary power units (APUs) on aircraft at airports.
The best available data for calculation of the historic emissions was considered to be the comprehensive air traffic data contained in Eurocontrol's databases from the Central Route Charges Office (CRCO) and the Central Flow Management Unit (CFMU). These provide among other things a calculation of the actual route length for each individual flight. Emissions were then calculated on a flight-by-flight basis using the ANCAT 3 (Abatement of Nuisances Caused by AirTransport) methodology and the CASE (Calculation of Emissions by Selective Equivalence) methodology.