Tom Neville (Limerick County, Fine Gael)
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181. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment the process for paying carbon tax for airlines flying in Irish airspace; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [9835/19]

Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael)
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Since 2012, greenhouse gas emissions associated with flights operating in the European Economic Area (EEA), including domestic flights as well as those to and from third countries, are covered by the EU Emissions Trading System (ETS). Airlines are required to monitor, report and verify their emissions, and to surrender allowances against those emissions. Airlines receive tradeable allowances covering a certain level of emissions from their flights per year and must purchase allowances to cover any shortfall between their allocated sum of free emissions allowances and their actual emissions, as reported annually. The EU since decided to limit the scope of the EU ETS to flights within the EEA to support the development of a global Carbon Offsetting and Reduction Scheme for International Aviation (CORSIA) by the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO). CORSIA aims to stabilise emissions at 2020 levels by requiring airlines to offset the growth of their emissions after 2020.

Fuel consumption associated with aviation emissions included in the EU ETS are not subject to a carbon tax in Ireland.