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Flights by plane: An elected official will offer a CO2 emission quota for each Swiss
Christophe Clivaz will deposit two texts aimed at limiting the climate impact of aviation by targeting the biggest consumers and sparing the middle class.
Taxing all plane tickets is a subject that beats wing in Switzerland, so we will have to find something else. The national adviser Christophe Clivaz (Vert/VS) announced on Monday on his site that he was going to submit two proposals during the next parliamentary session with two new ideas – in any case for Switzerland (read box). The first is to say that, since taxing all thefts are unfair, it is better to tax only those who often fly. The second is to study the possibility of creating a “carbon card” which would distribute emission quotas with each inhabitant.
“With 1.6 flights per person and per year, the Swiss population flies two to three times more than that of our neighbors. And yet, this behavior remains a global exception: 80% of humanity has never taken the plane and barely 2% to 4% have made an international flight. Even more striking: 1% of passengers are responsible for half of aviation emissions, ”notes the elected official.
Do not penalize the most modest
His proposal for a tax on large travelers (TGVA) “targets the wealthiest travelers, rather than penalizing all the passengers. This mechanism ensures that low-income people are not excluded from air trips due to climate policies, “he defends.
As for the idea of a “carbon card”, it is at the embryonic stadium. “It would attribute to each person a quota of emissions for air traffic, corresponding to a climate budget distributed fairly among all the inhabitants,” explains Valaisan. The text will ask the Federal Council to explore the tracks for its introduction. How many flights? Can someone who has not used their credits will resell them to someone who would need it if their family is exhausted? All this would remain to be defined.
Already offered in France
Two years ago, French engineer Jean-Marc Jancovici launched the idea of per capita flight quotas. Its verdict: you have to limit four flights per French … for all life. “Those for whom it seems inconceivable and restrictive must realize that it is something extremely recent and that it will start with oil. Once there will be no more oil, there will be nothing to ensure four flights in a life per earth, “he said. Many voices had opposed the idea. As for the tax on large travelers, it is carried by environmentalists and NGOs at European level.