Aviation

Participants

Since 2012, the EU Emissions Trading System (EU ETS) has also included aviation activities. After an initial one-year trading period in 2012, an eight-year period from 2013 to 2020 followed. Originally, all national and international flights arriving at and departing from airports located in the European Union were to be included in the EU ETS. However, no agreement was achieved on this point with the international aviation industry. Finally, the Assembly of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) decided to develop its own global market-based measure to reduce climate impacting emissions from aviation – the Carbon Offsetting and Reductions Scheme for International Aviation (CORSIA).

The aim of this scheme is to offset CO2 emissions above the 2020 baseline emissions level for international flights between participating states (domestic flights are not covered by CORSIA). There are discussions as to whether the baseline year should be changed to 2019 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. CORSIA is implemented in three phases: In the pilot phase (2021 to 2023) and in the first phase (2024 to 2026), states, among them all European states, will voluntarily participate. In the second phase (2027 to 2035), CORSIA will be mandatory for all states (with certain exemptions).

In response to the steps taken by ICAO, the European Union amended the Emissions Trading Directive 2003/87/EC with regard to aviation: Between 2013 and 2023, the reporting and surrender obligations of the EU ETS shall apply only to emissions from flights within the European Economic Area (EEA). Flights between the EU/EEA and the outermost regions of the European Union (including, among others, the French overseas departments, the Canary Islands, the Azores and Madeira) will be exempt from 2013 to 2023; however, flights within an outermost region will be covered.

Flights of non-commercial aircraft operators emitting less than 1,000 tonnes CO2 per year worldwide and flights of commercial aircraft operators emitting less than 10,000 tonnes CO2 per year worldwide are exempt from the EU Emissions Trading System. The monitoring of emissions has been facilitated for aircraft operators emitting less than 25,000 tonnes CO2 per year. If they use Eurocontrol data for their emissions reports, verification by an independent verifier is no longer required.

To comply with surrender obligations, aircraft operators can use EU Aviation Allowances (aEUAAs) and general EU Allowances (EUAs) from ETS phase 3 and phase 4.

Aircraft operators that were assigned to Austria have to open an account in the Austrian part of the Union Registry to be able to receive and trade allowances and fulfil their surrender obligations.

Further information is available on the following websites:

Information from the Ministry (in German)
Information from the European Comission
Eurocontrol Support Facility
CORSIA

 

Allowances allocated

The first trading period for aviation lasted from 1 January 2012 to 31 December 2012. The next trading period started on 1 January 2013 and ended on 31 December 2020. The current trading period began on 1 January 2021 and will end on 31 December 2030. 

In the second trading period from 2013 to 2020, the amount of allowances to be allocated for free was adjusted to the reduced scope in accordance with Regulation (EU) 421/2014 and Regulation (EU) 2017/2392. As of 1 January 2020, the Emissions Trading System of the European Union has been linked with the Emissions Trading System of Switzerland and the amount of allowances to be allocated has been adjusted again.

Further information is available on the following website:

Website European Commission

You will find tables with the exact number of allowances to be allocated free of charge at the following link:

Website of the European Union Transaction Log (EUTL)

Access the allocations for the aircraft operators registered in the Austrian part of the Union Registry by following these steps:

  1. Open EUTL.
  2. On the left side, below ETS, click on “Allocations to Aircraft Operators”.
  3. As “National Administrator” select “Austria” and, on the right side, as “EU ETS Phase” select “Phase 4 (2021-2030)”, or any other period, from the dropdown menu. Then click on “Search”.
  4. In the line “Austria – Phase 4 (2021-2030)”, or the period you chose in step 3, click on “Operators linked to this Aviation Allocation Table”.