EU deal on airline emissions faces opposition

[LONDON] A number of EU politicians plan to vote against a deal to exempt long-haul flights from paying for carbon emissions until the end of 2016 in an attempt to prevent the European Union from bowing to international pressure.

The European Parliament's 71-member Environment Committee will vote tomorrow on a deal brokered by EU diplomats earlier in March to extend a so-called "stop the clock" measure exempting intercontinental flights from regulation under its Emissions Trading System (ETS).

Failure to get final agreement on the compromise before the end of April would likely re-ignite tensions with Europe's major trading partners, such as China and the US, and risk a trade war.