Capped: How Europe’s New CO2 Standard’s Killing Cheap Flights and Saving Slow Travel

If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to our or .

| Sourced From |

There’s bad news brewing for both hipster-bohemian types and the people who love to hear them wax dramatic about budget Euro airlines like Ryanair and EasyJet — how it was “so easy” to jaunt from London to Tallinn; how we could eat burrata in Puglia one day and smoke the greatest Amsterdam cush at night for about half the price of a Eurail pass. The problem, sadly, is a little thing called the carbon market, and it’s coming to an “undiscovered” European city near you.

For years, the low-cost British airlines have been able to offer local deals — say, £1 flights from Dublin to Barcelona — because they could sell an incredible volume of tickets and make back money on everything from soda to onboard bathroom access. But last year the EU announced its intention to put the kibosh on cheap travel by including airlines in its carbon-trading scheme. In fact, early next month, the EU will announce the details of its cap on airline industry emissions — a generous 210 million tons per year. (Incidentally, you’re looking at about 1.2 tons if you want to offset the carbon emissions for a JFK-to-Heathrow flight). To make matters worse, emissions beyond that cap will require airlines — including any plane to fly a European route — to purchase so-called “pollution credits” — but not stop polluting.

Expectedly, airlines are pissed and pushing to raise their allowances. In the U.S., the airline industry lobby group Air Transport Association (ATA) is even calling the EU’s plan a violation of international law. But let’s be real: The people who will really pay are consumers. And while, sure, I might pay to never hear another story about how you and Tom met some “awesome” people from Iceland in a London bar and then all decided to fly to Budapest on EasyJet for, “like, $80, round-trip,” I don’t know how thrilled I am about the idea of flying becoming an elite activity again, even if it would return some glamour and excitement to air travel.

What seems more absorbing — and absurd — to the eco-geek in me is how to reconcile the fact that flying is an incredibly carbon-intensive activity; that what we’ll really be paying for is the environmental damage inflicted by cheap, short-haul flights — and that the cap isn’t likely to stimulate notable improvements, according to environmental activists who call it too weak. In fact, capping emissions at 210 million tons a year will only achieve a 3% reduction, which is less than the rate at which emissions currently grow each year (roughly 6%, according to the Tyndall Center for Climate Change Research).

Moreover, “pollution credits” (”carbon offsets,” on this side of the pond) remain problematic for people who don’t like the idea of allowing companies to pay for the right to pollute. Then there’s that pesky little carbon-accounting issue: The airline industry claims it’s responsible for 1.5% of CO2 emissions, while EU officials argue 2%. And according to James Leape, World Wide Fund for Nature’s general director, that number should be multiplied by about four because CO2 released at high altitudes wreaks that amount more havoc on the ozone layer as CO2 released on the ground.

Is the situation lose-lose? Push the cap through, and travel becomes an elite privilege (more so than it already is); people gradually receive less exposure to the rest of the world; and the environment receives little benefit, unless you consider educating travelers about the high carbon-cost of flying to be more helpful than a 1980’s PSA. But keep things status-quo, and the planet’s headed down the tubes faster. Plus, you’ve still got to put up with drunken Brits on a stag-do, ruining Barcelona, and people like me knowing — and whining — about them.

It seems to me that mainstream air travel, like so many other Great Industrial Accomplishments (hello, automakers), may need to step back to move forward. We may need to return to the days when flying internationally was something people spent years– not just a summer working at a record shop - saving up for. That could be a dangerous step towards cultural isolationism/elitism, and it could seriously damage the international travel industry further. But it could also bring about unexpected positives. For Americans: a renewed interest in our country and its people, a better understanding of our impact on the planet, and a level of respect for travel and exploring new destinations that has gone missing in the pursuit of passport stamps and stoned-backpacker anecdotes. For Europeans, benefits abound: visitors who actually want to see foreign countries, not just people who decided to take the trip because it costs ten bucks.

But is there a way to curb airline emissions without rendering travel out of most people’s reach? There may be a few. First, the cheap Euro flights need to go: They were fun while they lasted (or not — you get what you pay for), but their time is over. And there are some other promising solutions on the horizon: Airlines will soon fly even sleeker, more fuel-efficient jets; and some are looking into biofuels, which could make for a meaningful reduction of emissions, depending on the specific biofuel they choose. But, honestly? A big part of the solution is for people to fly less. I know that we all want to pretend that we can save the planet and keep our lifestyles the same, but it just ain’t so (and no, your Prius really isn’t helping). Essentially, the environmental cost has to become part of the financial cost, whether that involves charging airlines for pollution or charging people for enabling them.

Maybe charging the airlines for their carbon emissions won’t effect the dramatic change on air travel that everyone predicts — after all, we’re now used to paying for pillows, blankets, and in some cases, water. We’ll probably get used to paying for carbon credits like we get used to a lot of things. For now, however, I plan on looking forward to my next half-full flight, avoiding that mustachioed pair of post-college Beck fans en route to Slovenia, and enjoying shorter security lines.