THE EU'S emissions trading scheme (ETS) will collapse in the face of a severe economic downturn and its failure to involve the rest of the world, Ryanair chief executive Michael O'Leary has predicted.
In a withering criticism, Mr O'Leary described the ETS, which has been in operation since January, as "just a way for Europe to tax itself out of existence while no other country in the world joins.
"With a good, deep recession and an unemployment crisis across Europe, that will bring them to their senses," he said.
Mr O'Leary was reacting to proposals by the commission and by the EU parliament to include aviation in the scheme from 2011 or 2012. If the proposal to cap emissions for aviation at 90 per cent of current levels is adopted, it will invariably result in the sector becoming a net contributor.
According to German MEP Peter Liese, it will add €10 to the cost of European flights and €40 to transatlantic flights after 2011.
The Ryanair chief is opposed to airlines being included unless the scheme becomes global.
"The only way that it can be stopped is on a worldwide basis, not by a bunch of European idiots and bureaucrats levying tax on companies for some notional value that's put on climate change.
"It's an irrelevance, wittering on about the Kyoto Protocol even though Europe is the only place that has any tax. There are far more pressing issues to deal with when oil is at $130 a barrel than putting another tax on air travel."
The ETS scheme covers 12,000 companies and installations across Europe. There are about 100 in Ireland, including ESB, CRH, Aughinish Alumina and Intel.
This year, it is expected some Irish companies - power generators and cement groups in particular - will need to buy carbon credits to remain within their ETS allowance. Irish utilities are expected to buy 3.5 million tonnes annually by 2012. Current prices are between €25 and €28 a tonne.
Mr O'Leary said Ryanair's young fleet, its lack of first-class seats and its status as a point-to-point operator made it the most efficient airline in Europe.
He also argued governments were bigger culprits than airlines, saying the lack of a single air traffic control system for Europe was ludicrous and blaming a failure to tackle unions.
Mr O'Leary added that airlines contribute less than 2 per cent of overall emissions, compared to 5 per cent from the marine transport sector.
