The European Commission on Tuesday published an updated list of aircraft operators covered by the EU ETS between 2013-2016 – carriers due to report their emissions for 2013 and 2014 next month.

Only around 600 carriers, all of which are forecast to have emitted more than the annual threshold of 1,000 tonnes of CO2 last year, are covered by the system in the current phase.

This compares to thousands that were initially regulated when the law came into force in 2012, but got a reprieve via the bloc’s Stop the Clock measure.

“Emissions from these operators are estimated to have amounted to around 55 million tonnes of CO2 in 2013”, the Commission said in a note on its website on Tuesday.

The latest list can be seen here.

Carriers on the list must surrender EUAs or offsets for their emissions from intra-European flights by the end of April.

By Mike Szabo – mike@carbon-pulse.com