Flying free of the ETS: EU won't include international flights in its ETS (for now)

Key Points:

For now, Australian international flights will not be subject to a carbon price, either in Australia, or the EU.

The EU Commission announced on 12 November that it would put on hold its plans to include international flights from outside the EU in its scheme, to give the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) time to forge a proposal for a global deal in time for the 38th ICAO General Assembly in September/October 2013.

The EU ETS will continue to apply to all flights within and between the 30 European countries in the EU ETS, but some commentators are expecting a backlash from budget carriers whose business is biased towards short haul flights.

How the EU plan was supposed to work