Madrid, 9 January 2025. The European Commission has adopted a new Regulation introducing a new label to identify the emissions of flights operating within the European Union (EU) or departing from a European country, which will allow passengers to know clearly and reliably the greenhouse gas emissions of flights. This will allow airlines that wish to do so to voluntarily join the Flight Emissions Label (‘FEL’) scheme. For its part, the EU Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) will assign the first flight labels by 1 July 2025 at the latest and they will start to apply to flights scheduled during the winter season of 2025.
The aim of the new rules is to harmonise the methodology and criteria for estimating flight emissions and to make them easily comparable. To this end, a new reliable and transparent methodology is established, with common criteria and which takes into account the type of aircraft operating the flight, the average number of passengers, the volume of cargo on board, as well as the aviation fuel used. Consumers will thus be able to see and compare the emissions of flights offered by airlines and make more informed purchasing decisions.
The competent authority for estimating flight emissions according to international aviation emissions accounting standards will be EASA. This will mean that - in practice - when searching for a flight or booking a ticket online, a specific logo will be displayed along with objective and reliable emissions data, offering consumers greater protection against greenwashing.
At the same time, this measure encourages fleet renewal and the industry's transition to a new air transport model that uses sustainable fuel, has zero net emissions and ensures fair competition between airlines. Likewise, as the calculation of emissions takes into account the number of passengers per flight, the regulation will also encourage airlines to schedule flights in a more efficient and sustainable way.
Source of information European Commission.