by Paul Brown
A worldwide tax on aviation fuel to reflect the true cost to the environment of pollution caused by aircraft is to be proposed by the European Union at the United Nations Earth Summit follow-up conference starting in New York today.
The EU proposal - strongly resisted by the United States - would make air travel more expensive in the short term, but is designed to encourage the use of fuel-efficient engines to reduce damage to the atmosphere. Some of the revenue raised would be channeled into environmental projects in the Third World, and the UN is keen on the tax as a huge source of funding for this.
The conference is to review progress on the world environment since the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. One stumbling block to progress at "Rio Plus-Five" is the lack of aid from the industrialised world to fund sustainable development projects and technology transfers to developing countries.
It is the first time such a tax has been on the UN's agenda, and it is being pushed hard by the EU. Some European countries, notably Austria, want to introduce the tax unilaterally. But Britain believes only a worldwide flat-rate tax would work, because countries not operating the tax would be at a competitive advantage.
Aviation fuel is the cheapest fuel in the world because it is tax-free. An International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) regulation prevents local taxes, but it has agreed this can be repealed. The ICAO has already prepared proposals for how the tax could be levied.
The US, which is opposed to tax on even car fuel, is supported by other countries, such as Australia, which rely heavily on internal flights. These countries believe an aviation tax would unfairly damage their economies.
But the environmental arguments for the tax are strong, particularly since most air travel is by people from the rich, industrialised world.
Although only 3 per cent of man-made emissions of carbon dioxide are said to be due to aviation fuel, it is - along with cars - the fastest-growing sector.
The pollution is also delivered high in the atmosphere, where it takes immediate effect.
Pollution from aircraft is also said to damage the ozone layer. But exactly how much worse pollution at 30,000ft is for the planet is still a matter of scientific debate.
Officials hope that, when the EU proposal is debated on Wednesday, at least the principle of a universal tax will be agreed. The details will probably be left to the aviation authorities and Climate Change Convention negotiators.
Climate change and the lack of world targets for reducing carbon dioxide emissions after 2000 are to be one of the themes of Tony Blair's speech when he addresses the conference today. That Britain will reach its target of freezing emissions at 1990 levels by 2000, and that the Labour government has set a reduction of 20 per cent on those levels by 2010, have given the Prime Minister an opportunity to cast himself in a leading role and demand action from the rest of the world.
Mr Blair, along with the EU, is keen that there should be a Forest Convention. Efforts to secure one in the past seven years have failed because of resistance from India, Brazil and the US, which see management of forests as a matter of national sovereignty.
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