The UK government is giving airlines so many free pollution permits through the carbon market for aviation that they don’t have to pay for any of their climate-warming emissions. Airline polluters received £242 million worth of free CO2 “allowances” last year¹, according to a new study by green group Transport & Environment . The UK’s carbon market is supposed to reduce carriers’ emissions under the polluter pays principle.
EasyJet, Ryanair and British Airways were the highest beneficiaries of the free pollution permits. This comes after British Airways and easyJet received significant government bailouts during the COVID pandemic. But, the UK ETS awards free allowances to airlines, enabling them to pollute free of charge. In theory, this is to mitigate against “carbon leakage” — potential additional emissions created by airlines that avoid paying for ETS allowances by changing their routes. However,most carbon emissions from UK flights