The tax could raise billions of dollars to help decarbonisation at relatively low cost to air travellers, say those backing the plan
European leaders are expected to lobby for a tax on aviation fuel at this year’s United Nations climate negotiations during COP28 in Dubai, according to report by the Proactive Investors news website.
The bloc’s 27 member states are reportedly considering widespread changes to energy taxes that were installed in 2003 so that they align with new climate goals.
The EU’s climate chief Wopke Hoekstra, who has been in negotiations with climate ministers and diplomats since he took the post in October, is expected to adopt a ‘polluter pays’ principle at the talks, the Financial Times reported.
COP28 president Sultan Ahmed Al-Jaber has called on global oil and gas companies to do more to achieve climate goals and has called for governments to double hydrogen production by 2030 – hydrogen is seen as a possible solution to reducing carbon emissions by the air industry.
During the opening of the UN climate summit, Al-Jaber, who is also the CEO of Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC), urged nations to find common ground in their climate policy.
The EU stance during COP28 is expected include calls for a possible aviation tax on polluting plane fuel, a move that has reportedly been supported by Ireland’s climate minister Eamon Ryan, who told the Financial Times that a ‘mosaic’ of financing options will need to be agreed on to tackle climate change, including a possible shipping fuel tax.
