AACO considers the EU’s proposed extension of its Emissions Trading System beyond EU airspace to be extraterritorial, as it would apply an EU measure over international airspace and the airspace of sovereign States outside the EU. If implemented, it would be inconsistent with the Chicago Convention, which recognizes the sovereignty of each State over its airspace, and that no State has the right to impose regulations beyond its territory.
The proposal would extend the EU ETS “to cover all flights departing from an airport situated in the EEA and landing in aerodromes in third countries, no further than 5 000 kilometres from the largest aerodrome in the geographical centre of the Union.” Such a boundary would be inherently arbitrary. It would have no recognized legal basis, environmental threshold, or internationally agreed methodology. It would be selected unilaterally, without the agreement of the affected third States, and would impose different obligations on otherwise comparable routes solely because of a chosen distance threshold.
The extension would also risk undermining the global efforts undertaken by States through CORSIA. CORSIA was developed within ICAO, with the agreement of EU Member States, as the only global framework for addressing emissions from international aviation. While EU States have the right to regulate activities within their airspace, that right does not extend beyond it.
States within ICAO have also developed successive programmes to reduce international aviation’s carbon emissions. In 2023, ICAO adopted the Global Framework for Alternative Aviation Fuels, aiming to reduce emissions by 5% by 2030 through cleaner energies, and States have agreed on the aspirational goal of net-zero carbon emissions by 2050.
In addition to being extraterritorial, the EU proposal would disrupt those global efforts and significantly increase airline operational complexity and costs, which would ultimately raise the cost of air travel, particularly travel from Europe.