Polluting airlines could be fined

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Airlines which fail to comply with strict carbon emission limits will face fines from the Environment Agency, the government has announced.

An EU-wide scheme to cap emissions from aviation will come into force from 1 January 2012.

Transport Secretary Geoff Hoon said the aim was to balance demand for air travel with its "environmental impact".

The government has made a commitment to cut the UK's total carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions by 80% by 2050.

Ministers had resisted calls to include aviation and shipping in the EU emissions trading scheme (ETS), saying it would be nearly impossible to allocate responsibility for international emissions to individual countries.

But after intense lobbying from more than 50 Labour MPs, as well as environmental campaigners, ministers agreed to an amendment.

Cleaner aircraft

The ETS, which includes the CO2 cap, comes into force for all flights arriving from and departing to EU airports from 2012.

It will be enforced in England and Wales by the Environment Agency, with the help of the Civil Aviation Authority. The UK has the highest environmental standards for aviation in the world Ed Miliband, Energy and Climate Change Secretary

Mr Hoon said aircraft were already "much greener and cleaner than they were 30 years ago" and the ETS would improve things even further.

"We know that people want to fly and it would be wrong to deny them the great social and economic benefits that aviation brings," he said.

"Our challenge is to balance that demand with aviation's environmental impacts.

"The UK lobbied hard to get aviation included in the EU ETS. Now we must demonstrate to the rest of the world that the scheme is an effective means of capping aviation CO2 emissions so that we can progress towards a similar global arrangement."

Climate Change Secretary Ed Miliband said: "The UK has the highest environmental standards for aviation in the world and has been at the forefront of pushing through this groundbreaking agreement.

"This European-wide scheme will substantially cut carbon emissions across Europe and provide real incentives for airlines to play their part and make those reductions."