European airlines angered by EU 'CO2 tax'

0 Comments | AFP, June, 2008

BRUSSELS (AFP) — European airlines complained Friday that new EU rules on carbon dioxide emissions will cost them 4.8 billion euros (7.6 billion dollars) a year and threaten their future.

Under an agreement reached Thursday, the European Union will set quotas on carbon dioxide, the main gas that causes global warming, on all airlines -- those from Europe and abroad -- from 2012.

They would then have to pay for these permits to pollute from 2013.

"This decision is going to cost us 4.8 billion euros a year," said Francoise Herbert, spokeswoman at the Association of European Airlines (AEA), which represents 33 firms including Air France-KLM, British Airways and Lufthansa.

"It all has to be compared with the 3.7 billion euros profit that our companies...