Airlines alliances take cartel approach to carbon trading
23 January 2012International airline partnership Star Alliance will likely tender for a broker this year to help its members buy CO2 permits, while Air France, a member of rival group SkyTeam, said its alliance partners would give first refusal to each other when selling allowances.
From January 1, around 4,000 airlines that fly to and from EU airports were included in the bloc’s Emissions Trading Scheme ETS and must next year surrender carbon credits against their 2012 emissions.
The carrier expects fleet emissions of 16-17 million tonnes in 2012, meaning it would need to buy around 4 million permits on top of its free allocation of 12.6 million EUAAs, the aviation CO2 units distributed under the ETS.
Rival coalition Star Alliance, which boasts members Lufthansa, United Airlines and U.S. Airways, does not have a similar arrangement, its director responsible for emissions trading told Point Carbon.
source: Reuters
