Furthermore, whereas the European Parliament originally intended for the aviation sector to comply with the new restrictions on emissions by 2011, the recent EU Environmental Council in Brussels proposed postponing that another year to 2012. More importantly, there are financial mechanisms capable of limiting the ability of regulated industries to purchase exemptions that function very much the same way traffic fines do. Instead of limiting the opportunity to do so within the aviation industry, the recent Council proposal set a very relaxed standard that will enable the aviation industry to simply pay for the right to continue to pollute at rates that are not significantly reduced as intended. At the same time, the European Council has proposed a reduction of 8% from the 1990 emission levels by the year 2012. In view of the loopholes that currently would allow the industry to simply pay its way out of full compliance, that hope is not particularly realistic.

Global...

It even threatens the biodiversity that is essential to continued balance of species and the natural replenishment of nutrients in the environment. If industry controls and sanctions for failing to meet their requirements are to achieve the necessary results to reverse the environmental damage caused by aviation hydrocarbon emissions, much stricter reforms than those recently proposed in Brussels are required.