Europe Requires Airlines To Pay For Their Pollution

Europe Requires Airlines To Pay For Their Pollution

The European Union reached a landmark agreement Thursday to cap emissions from aircraft, raising the stakes in an increasingly ferocious battle with the United States over how to regulate global greenhouse gases.

In the first requirement of its kind, all airlines arriving or leaving from airports in the European Union would be required to buy pollution credits beginning in 2012, joining other industrial polluters that trade in the European emissions market. That includes non-European carriers like American Airlines and Singapore Airlines.

Including airlines in the system is the boldest move yet by Europe to stamp its environmental policies on the rest of the world.

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