EU reaches deal on price of airlines using fossil fuels

The European Union reached a deal on a law to increase the price that airlines have to pay when they emit carbon dioxide emissions, adding pressure to the sector to switch away from fossil fuels in the early hours of Wednesday.

Most airlines operating flights within Europe have to submit permits from the EU's carbon market to cover their carbon dioxide emissions, but the EU gives them most of their permits for free.

That will be changed under the law agreed by the EU countries and the European Parliament, which would phase out those free permits by 2026. The permits would be cut by 25 percent in 2024 and 50 percent in 2025.

The financial incentive for airlines to pollute less will be provided by the fact that they will have to pay for their CO 2 permits.

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A smaller amount of free CO2 permits -- 20 million - will be available to airlines that use sustainable aviation fuels SAF from 2024 -- 2030 to partially compensate for the price difference between SAFs and cheaper fossil fuel kerosene.

Suncana Glavak, the EU parliament's lead negotiator, said we stand with the sector through the process of the green transition.

In 2026, negotiators agreed that the EU will propose extending its carbon market to cover emissions from flights within the EU, but in 2026 the UN aviation agency ICAO's scheme to offset international CO2 emissions is on track to deliver net zero emissions by the year 2050, and if it is not, the EU will propose extending its carbon market to cover emissions from all departing flights.

International flights would not be added to the carbon market sooner, according to climate campaigners.

The average European family will pay more for CO 2 emissions than frequent long-haul flyers, said Jo Dardenne, aviation director at non-profit group Transport and Environment.

The EU plans to add emissions to the carbon market in 2028, which means airlines will have to start reporting other pollutants such as nitrogen oxides and soot particles from 2025.

The law will be approved by the EU countries and the bloc's parliament before it takes effect.