EU nations: All airlines flying to Europe should trade carbon permits from 2012

BRUSSELS, Belgium (AP) — All airlines flying to and from Europe should trade carbon emissions permits from 2012, EU states governments said.

The deadline is a year later than the date set by EU lawmakers.

EU environment ministers agreed there should be only one single starting date for the cap-and-trade program, scrapping the original idea of giving non-EU airlines an extra year to adjust to the plan that U.S. officials claim will spark a trade war.

But they must still strike a compromise with the European Parliament which voted in November for all carriers to launch the plan in 2011.

EU nations said the first year's cap should be based on average yearly emissions from 2004 to 2006, drawing complaints from airlines who say aviation will have grown by then and the tight limit would cripple them with extra costs of $5.4 billion a year.