US airlines lobbied EU over its plan to monitor emissions

US airlines lobbied against plans to monitor damage from planet-heating pollutants pumped out of planes in a meeting with the European Commission, the Guardian can reveal.

- Ajit Niranjan

Lobbyists from Airlines for America and some of its member companies met representatives of the commission's climate team in May in a meeting that is not logged on the participants' pages in the EU transparency register. The commission said the meeting took place at a technical level and that it is under no obligation to publish details of meetings at lower levels of its hierarchy.

Minutes of the meeting obtained via freedom of information requests show that Airlines for America argued against including flights to and from destinations outside Europe in draft rules to report aircraft pollution beyond carbon dioxide. The group argued there was uncertainty in the science around contrails - the heattrapping white lines that can stain the sky behind aircraft.