By Kim Rahn
The government, research institutes and airline companies have launched a joint movement to cope with the EU's plan to regulate emission from aircrafts of all worldwide airlines operating over its territory.
Officials from the Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA), researchers from the Korea Energy Economics Institute and the Korea Environment Institute, and officials from Korean Air and Asiana Airlines have formed a task force. The regulation is expected to deal a serious blow to Korea's airline industry.
The emission trading scheme (ETS) is a system to limit the amount of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions and impose penalties on companies emitting more than their quota. Those emitting less than their quota can sell the remaining portion to others.
The EU has already introduced the system for many of its industries and plans to adopt it for aircraft engines' CO2 emissions by 2011. According to the draft of the regulation, the limitation will be set based on airlines' average emission from 2004 through 2006, a CASA official said.
If the plan is confirmed, all flights of every carrier worldwide that operates in EU territory will be subject to the regulation.
``As Korea's air travel business to Europe is growing, it is very likely that Korean carriers' emissions will exceed the limitation. Korean airlines have more of a disadvantage, as they have to fly farther distances than carriers of countries nearer Europe, consequently burning more fuel,'' the official said.
The government decided to come up with measures because it was worried that Korean carriers may lose competitiveness if the EU levies penalties and these lead to a rise in airfares.
The methods and technology to reduce an aircraft's emissions are limited, according to the official. They are largely limited to adopting fuel-efficient planes or using planes with two engines instead of four.
``So the taskforce team will study possible methods and cooperate with non-EU countries that oppose the EU's move, including the U.S., China, Japan, Russia and Australia,'' he said.
The International Civil Aviation Organization's committee on aviation environmental protection will announce its research results on the ETS at the end of this year.
