The British government has imposed a further £662,200 in fines on 20 airlines that failed to surrender enough carbon units to cover their EU ETS emissions in 2012.
The largest penalty of £157,600 was levied against UK-headquartered industrial equipment manufacturer J. C. Bamford Excavators Ltd, also known as JCB, according to data published on Tuesday, while the Bahrain royal family’s private airline was fined £60,700.
Other notable penalties included:
- £56,460 for Midroc Aviation, which appears to be owned by Saudi Arabian/Ethiopian billionaire Mohammed Hussein Ali Al Amoudi
- £52,137 for Brazilian aircraft manufacturer Embraer SA
- £37,386 for Flying Lion Ltd, which is reported to have ties to the UK Conservative Party and apparently been used by lawmakers including David Cameron, William Hague, and Lord Ashcroft
- £24,076 for US insurance firm AIG
- £17,464 for US media conglomerate 21st Century Fox America
- £12,716 for Indian operator Jet Airways, which twice appealed the decision.
- £10,766 for Turkmenhovayollary, otherwise known as Turkmenistan Airlines
- £1,611 for DJT Operations I LLC, Donald Trump’s private jet fleet
- £1,441 for Russian fighter jet firm MiG
These penalties follow five fines for a total £95,457 that were published by the British government last June.
Under EU rules, failing to hand in enough emissions units to cover the previous year’s CO2 output can result in fines of €100 per tonne plus the cost of buying the required number of allowances at market.
But the 28-nation bloc scaled back its airline carbon market following its so-called “stop the clock” initiative in 2012, exempting hundreds of airlines amid claims by other nations including India, Russia, China and the US that the scheme infringed on their sovereignty.
However, companies operating flights between airports in the European Economic Area (EEA) must still report their emissions and hand in a corresponding number of carbon units to cover their CO2 output, and were required to comply for 2012 by the end of Apr. 2013.
The EU also delayed the compliance deadline for 2013 and 2014 emissions from carriers flying between EEA airports until Apr. 30, 2015, meaning more penalty notices could be in the pipeline as EU data suggests a number of airlines failed to comply last year.
By Mike Szabo – mike@carbon-pulse.com
