First-ever commercial airline emissions regulations finalised in US

The Environmental Defense Fund said the EPA’s ‘do-nothing rule is totally inadequate in light of the climate crisis’

The first-ever proposed standards to regulate commercial airline emissions were finalised on Monday by the US Environmental Protection Agency.

The EPA, which announced the proposals in July, said the requirements would align the US with international standards set in 2016.

The new regulations mean that American aircraft manufacturers must make engines more fuel-efficient so that they pump out less carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas which drives global heating.

All new aircraft will need to meet requirements by 2028 but the EPA wrote on Monday that many US companies “already meet the standards contained in this action”. 

As a result “EPA is not projecting emission reductions associated with these GHG (greenhouse gas) regulations.” It also does not project the rule “will cause manufacturers to make technical improvements to their airplanes that would not have occurred” otherwise.

In a statement, EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler said: “The US leads the world in reducing greenhouse gas emissions and today’s historic action that finalises the first-ever GHG standard for aircraft will continue this trend.”

But critics said that the rules were inadequate.

Environmental Defense Fund international counsel Annie Petsonk said that the EPA’s “do-nothing rule is totally inadequate in light of the climate crisis. It’s incumbent on the incoming Biden-Harris administration to move swiftly to tighten this standard”.

A group of 11 states, led by California and the District of Columbia, had urged the EPA to strengthen the airline standards in October, saying the agency’s proposal would “lag existing technology by more than 10 years and would result in no GHG reductions at all compared to business-as-usual”.

The airplanes covered by the proposed rule accounted for 10 per cent of all US transportation greenhouse gas emissions and 3 per cent of total emissions in the country.

It has been the largest source of transport emissions not covered by rules. The new regulations do not apply to military planes. 

Reuters contributed to this report