EU reaches deal on price of airlines using fossil fuels

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

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

Airlines will have to pay for their CO 2 permits, which will give them a financial incentive to pollute less.

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A smaller amount of free CO 2 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.

The Green Transition process is underway and we stand with the sector, according to the EU parliament's lead negotiator Suncana Glavak.

The EU has so far limited its carbon market to cover emissions from flights within the EU, but negotiators agreed in 2026 whether the UN aviation agency ICAO's scheme to offset international CO2 emissions is on track to deliver net zero emissions by 2050, and that it 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.

Average European families 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, as 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.