Airlines must be included in ETS - Miliband

"Most efficient way" minister claims

Airlines should be included in the EC Emissions Trading Scheme (ETSEmissions Trading Scheme: Effectively an emissions market where allowances are traded as units of volume e.g. one tonne of carbon dioxide. Participating companies are allocated a number of allowed emissions units of each gas. A company may emit more by purchasing units from the market. Similarly, a company may sell units if they are in excess. The total number of allocation units is fixed and regulated by central and EU government. An ETS imposes a limit on the total emissions according to reduction targets, while allowing companies flexibility. (Source: www.defra.gov.uk)), Ed Miliband, the UK secretary for energy and climate change, said.

Mr Miliband said it was important to involve aviation in the scheme if the UK was to reach its target of cutting carbon dioxide emissions by 30% by 2020.

"We are really looking for a way in which carbon emissions of air and road transport can be taken into account," the minister said at a conference in London on climate change organised by the UK Confederation of British Industry (CBI).

"In relation to aviation, probably the most efficient way of doing this is its inclusion in the European ETS."

The meeting attended by executives from some of Britain's leading companies indicated by a show of hands that they thought the government would fail in its objective.

Richard Lambert, the CBI's director-general, said: "We must not let the global economic crisis become an excuse for inaction on climate change. Now, more than ever, we need to secure a binding EU climate change deal."

www.decc.gov.uk  www.cbi.org.uk