Early on Wednesday morning, the European Union agreed to a law to raise the price airlines must pay for carbon dioxide emissions, increasing pressure on the sector to move away from fossil fuels, Reuters reported.

Airlines flying within Europe are now required to have EU carbon certificates to cover their emissions, but Brussels gives them most of these certificates for free.

That will change under a law agreed by EU negotiators and the European Parliament that will phase out these free certificates by 2026, sources familiar with the talks told Reuters.

Thus, airlines will have to pay for CO2 certificates, which will be a financial incentive for them to pollute the environment less.

A much smaller number of free CO2 allowances will be given to airlines using sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) to partially offset the price difference between SAF and kerosene, a much cheaper fossil fuel, the sources said.

The EU has currently limited its carbon market to covering emissions from intra-EU flights, but negotiators agreed that Brussels will assess in 2026 whether it will achieve net zero emissions by 2050 under the ICAO’s CO2 offset scheme for international flights. and if not, the EU will propose expanding the carbon market to cover emissions from all flights departing from the EU.

Both EU countries and the European Parliament must formally approve the law before it can take effect.