Aviation

From 1 January 2012 the EU Emissions Trading System also comprises aviation (according to Directive 2008/101/EC, which amends Directive 2003/87/EC). All domestic and international flights which start or land from an airport within the European Union are included. All affected aircraft operators have been assigned to an administrating EU Member State. Austria has been assigned 27 aircraft operators out of which 19 have fulfilled the conditions for receiving free allocation.

The first one-year trading period in 2012 is followed by a second eight-year period from 2013-2020. The free allocation to aviation operators who have been assigned to Austria totals about 1.9 million allowances for the period 2012 and about 14.6 million allowances (corresponding to about 1.8 million allowances per year) for the period from 2013-2020.

By the end of April of each year operators are obliged to surrender a number of allowances that is equal to their monitored and verified emissions of the previous year. Aircraft operators are also allowed to buy allowances from installations and, up to a certain amount, credits from Joint Implementation/Clean Development Mechanism projects (JI/CDM projects) in order to ensure their compliance.

The aviation operators who have been allocated to Austria have to open an account in the Union registry in order to receive, trade and surrender allowances. The forms for opening an aircraft operator account will be available online in the new Union Registry from 30 January 2012 onwards. After the account opening the allocation of any free aviation allowances for 2012 may take place. The trading of allowances will only be possible from the full activation of the Union Registry, which is planned for June 2012.

For further information on opening an aircraft operator account please go to the page Registration and accounts.

More detailed information on the inclusion of aviation into emissions trading, the list of Austrian aviation operators and the allocation list is available at www.emissionstrading-aviation.at.