Press statement: Suspending the ETS in response to energy shocks would be an own goal

Brussels, 15 April 2026: Yesterday Airlines for Europe (A4E) called for a temporary suspension of the ETS in response to the energy crisis. If the European Commission concedes to this it will be a step back for Europe on its path towards energy security, competitive industry, and net zero.

The ETS is the cornerstone of the enabling framework that innovative companies pioneering the very technologies needed to protect against future shocks like this. Suspending it would seriously weaken the business case for Europe's leading clean tech entrepreneurs.

Our Director of EU Policy, Aurelia Leeuw, said:

“Granting airlines’ call to suspend the ETS would be a serious own goal for the Commission. The ETS sends market signals and generates revenues that are integral to the business cases of the innovative companies developing precisely the solutions that would help insulate Europe against such shocks in future, including e-kerosene and zero carbon aircraft.

“Fossil fuel companies are reaping extraordinary profits from prices inflated by the ongoing crisis, but airlines decide to opportunistically cast climate policy as the bogey man. Instead, the industry should be supporting European energy sovereignty, the bloc’s green industry pioneers, the aviation energy transition and indeed the industry’s own long-term resilience. The Commission must resist calls to suspend the ETS, and instead expanding and strengthening it to ensure that the path out of this crisis leads to a green aviation future.”