(Photo Credit: Ramon Kagie, Unsplash)The United States’ historic $2 trillion stimulus package provides around $60 billion for the airline industry, but the cares act ignore airlines' carbon footprint and leaves out a requirement that the companies cut their greenhouse gas emissions in half by 2050.
House Democrats led by Nancy Pelosi originally wanted to include language in the deal that would force the country’s airlines to start offsetting emissions in 2025 and cut them in half over the next 30 years, Bloomberg reported.
Republicans in Congress pushed back on that earlier this week as lawmakers debated a national relief package in the wake of the covid-19 pandemic. Senate leader Mitch McConnell and fellow Republicans accused the Democrats of trying to “debate new regulations” that he said “have nothing whatsoever to do” with the novel coronavirus crisis.
The hotly debated emissions-cutting provision came out of the stimulus bill, which was passed by the House today and is expected to be signed by President Trump shortly.
“Airlines would receive $29 billion in grants, and $29 billion in loans and loan guarantees, as well as a reprieve from paying three of their major excise taxes on the price of a ticket, the fuel tax and a cargo tax,” Politico reported. However, accepting the aid does include limits such as no stock buybacks and restrictions on executive compensation.
Annie Petsonk, international counsel for the Environmental Defense Fund, told the Guardian this week that the US airline industry should have had to agree to cut emissions in exchange for financial aid. “The provisions we were focused on simply would hold the airlines to what they already said they’re going to do,” she argued.
While the emissions-cutting requirement didn’t make it into the current bill, some industry observers think that restrictions could be introduced in future stimulus deals, the Guardian reported.
