COLOGNE, Germany (Reuters) - Countries that oppose the European Union's move to include airlines in its scheme to control carbon emissions would find it difficult to bring a dispute to the World Trade Organization (WTO), an official with the global trade body said on Friday.
China and India have boycotted their airlines from taking part, raising the prospect of a potential trade war over the carbon scheme, which forces all flights to and from EU airports to limit carbon dioxide emissions and airlines to cover the cost of emissions over the limit.
The options for a trade dispute to be taken up at the WTO are limited, however, and it would take a clever lawyer to come up with a good case, Doaa Abdel-Motaal, a counselor in the WTO's office of the director general, told a carbon market conference in Cologne.
