Data from the EU’s Transport & Environment group has shown that the oily airline to be included in the list for the top 10 polluting sources in Europe is Ryanair. This is also the first time that a company that does not use coal as  a source of power has been included in this list of polluters in Europe.

The rest in the list included seven factories in Germany and one in both Poland and Bulgaria.

According to data from the European agency, last year there was a 6.9 per cent increase in the emission of carbon dioxide from the operations of Ryanair.

The airline however maintained to be the greenest and cleanest airline in Europe. The company said in a statement that “passengers travelling on Ryanair have the lowest CO2 emissions per kilometre travelled than any other airline”.

Customers of Ryanair are now allowed to offset the carbon cost of their flights by the airlines according to a new environmental policy that was launched by it last year.

The list showed that all of the rest nine names on the list are all power plants that are powered by lignite, which is a form of soft brown coal

The rankings of the list are not based on listing of companies of Europe and on the basis of the amount of CO2 they emit. Instead the list prepares focus on the power plants, 11000 in number, and the airline activities in all of the 28 member countries of the European Union and Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway.

Since the activities chosen to monitor by the organization can be measured and checked, therefore they were included to be observed and evaluated, the EU says.

Emissions have to be registered with EU authorities by the 31 March.

The Emissions Trading System (ETS) was launched by the EU in 2005 with the aim of trying to control aviation emissions. The ETS works on the cap and trade principle. According to this system, the authorities place a cap on the total amount of certain greenhouse gases that entities falling under the scheme are allowed to emit into the atmosphere. The cap is gradually decreased so that there is also a gradual decreased in the amount of total emissions.

Also allowed under the scheme is the freedom for companies and entities under it to purchase and receive emission allowances which can also be traded between the companies and entities. The entities are also allowed to make purchase of a certain amount of international credits got from emission-saving projects across the world in such a manner that a limit sets a value for the credits.

To cover all their emissions, companies must give up enough emission allowances each year. Violating this results in heavy fines for the companies.

Its own initiatives also are also being introduced by the airline industry. For a start, airlines would be required to monitor and report their emissions from this year according to the Carbon Offsetting and Reduction Scheme for International Aviation. The full scheme will start in 2021.

(Adapted from BBC.com)