The AeroSpace and Defence Industries Association of Europe (ASD) representing the European Aerospace industry welcomes the vote by the Plenary of the European Parliament (EP) on the scope of the EU Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) for aviation resulting in only flights operated within the European Economic Area being included until the end of 2016. This means that foreign carriers will only be included if they fly intra-EU. Said Jan Pie ASD Secretary General: “ASD welcomes the EP’s pragmatic approach which provides clarity for the next three years. ASD is also convinced that by giving the global community this time to find a global solution to a global problem, the final savings of CO2 emissions will be far in excess of those which would be avoided by a regional European scheme alone and we will go some way to avoid market distortions for airlines. Finally, this will allow for potential trade tensions over the EU scheme to be diffused.”
 

ASD represents the Aeronautics, Space, Security and Defence industries in Europe. Based in Brussels, the organisation’s membership today comprises 16 major European aerospace and defence companies and 27 member associations in 20 countries (Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey and the UK). These industries reach a turnover of 186.8 billion euros, invest 17.6 billion euros in R&D, employ more than 750.000 people and counts over 2000 companies, 80 000 suppliers, many of which are SMEs.