As a dispute over climate legislation heats up, campaign group Transport & Environment urged the European Union to reconsider proposals to label some aviation projects as green. They claimed this carried the risk of “greenwashing” thousands of planes.
The European Commission is divided over how to treat aviation in the EU’s “taxonomy” list of climate-friendly investments. Some officials support the idea on the condition that investments meet certain environmental standards, while others are opposed to awarding any green badge to a high-carbon industry.
The discussion is centered on suggestions made by EU advisors last year, which stated that Brussels should classify “best in class” currently manufactured aircraft as “climate friendly” if they replace an older, less fuel-efficient aircraft in the fleet.
Along with the aircraft manufacturer Airbus (AIR.PA), Transport & Environment (T&E) co-led the committee of EU advisers that developed the proposals. T&E had initially backed the criteria. Following an EU decision to designate investments in gas and nuclear energy as green, it and other nonprofit organizations resigned from their roles as EU advisers in September.
T&E told Reuters that it had complied with the suggestions the previous year on the basis that any advancement was preferable to none. Yet there was a chance to make the criteria better now that the Commission is examining them.
In a statement, it stated that almost 7,000 Airbus aircraft, or around 90% of its order book, would qualify as “best in class” under the standards, albeit they wouldn’t receive the green designation unless they replaced an existing aircraft.
“Sticking a green investment label on thousands of highly polluting planes is an act of pure greenwashing,” said T&E aviation director Jo Dardenne.
T&E said that the 15-20% emissions reduction provided by more efficient aircraft was insufficient and urged Brussels to only support innovations with “real emissions reduction potential,” such as zero-emission aircraft and sustainable fuels.
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