FRANKFURT (Reuters) – The European Union is planning to create a new system to rank flights and aircraft according to their carbon footprint, German weekly Welt am Sonntag reported.
The paper, citing documents, said the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA), the continent’s safety regulator, has put out a tender to develop a classification system to that effect.
The project is aimed at “providing reliable, comparable and verifiable information” to clients to help them make sustainable decisions, the paper cited the documents as saying, adding details of the eco seal would be firmed up by the end of 2022.
EASA was not immediately available for comment outside of normal business hours.
Even before the coronavirus pandemic hit global airlines, business travel had been beginning to come under pressure as corporate clients became more alert to environmental and sustainability targets.
As part of the EU’s spending plans, nearly 550 billion euros ($666 billion) could be spent on climate over 2021-27 – a massive sum, but far below the 2.4 trillion euros in investment researchers say is needed to meet EU climate goals.
($1 = 0.8253 euros)
(Reporting by Christoph Steitz; Editing by Jan Harvey)
