WASHINGTON Aug 6 (Reuters Point Carbon) - Sixteen environmental groups on Friday urged President Barack Obama not to give into pressure by the U.S. airline industry to file an action under the U.N.'s aviation body to block an EU law requiring all foreign airlines to participate in its carbon trading system.
In their letter to the White House, the groups warned that filing a so-called Article-84 action in the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) to challenge the EU climate change directive would undermine the body's effort to create a global framework to curb greenhouse gas emissions from the aviation sector.
The EU law would require all airlines to pay for the carbon they emit on flights landing at or departing from European airports.