China Rethinks ETS Strategy

The China Air Transport Assn. (CATA) is reworking its lawsuit strategy against the European Union Emissions Trading System (EU ETS) in the wake of the Dec. 21 Court of Justice of the EU (CJEU) ruling.

 “We won’t change our clear-cut stance of opposing the EU ETS, although we have to adjust our lawsuit strategy owing to CJEU dismissal of the Airlines for America’s argument,” CATA deputy DG Chai Haibo said.

But CATA did say that it would seek to ensure that including international aviation in the EU ETS would not infringe upon the principles of customary international law or the open skies agreement between the EU and the US.

Haibo said the Civil Aviation Administration of China and other Chinese government organizations are uniting to decide “how to confront with EU ETS or even take possible counter measures.” Local industry experts are calling on Beijing to put pressure on EU by reducing, or even canceling, Airbus aircraft orders.

And on Jan. 5, in a significant ramp up in the rhetoric over the EU’s ETS, CATA said that it simply would not pay the ETS fees.

Speaking with the AFP from Beijing, Haibo said, "China, of course, will not cooperate with the European Union on the ETS. CATA, on behalf of Chinese airlines, is strongly against the EU's improper practice of unilaterally forcing international airlines into its ETS."

China Foreign Ministry spokesperson Liu Weimin told reporters last month that China opposes EU’s action of unilaterally implementing ETS from Jan. 1. Liu said that China has made its position “quite clear” many times and also expressed concerns through bilateral channels to EU. “In fact, many countries are opposed to EU ETS. So we hope EU can take no risks and settle this issue with China properly with a positive and pragmatic attitude,” he said.