The European Business Aviation Association (EBAA) will support legal action brought by Dassault Aviation against the European Commission’s Delegated Act on EU Taxonomy. The legislation explicitly excludes business aviation while including commercial aviation, a decision the EBAA views as unprecedented and discriminatory.
"The exclusion of business aviation from the EU Taxonomy framework is a significant oversight that fails to recognise the sector’s substantial contributions to sustainability and technological advancement,” said Holger Krahmer, Secretary General of the EBAA. The association is a trade group that looks after the interests of European business jet operators. It claims to represent more than 700 companies across the business jet value chain.
The Taxonomy Regulation is a classification system that identifies environmentally sustainable economic activities and is designed to help companies and investors make more informed decisions about sustainable investments and green financing. The EBAA argues excluding business aviation jeopardises the competitiveness of European business aircraft manufacturers and operators and may even prove a disincentive that discourages financial institutions from financing the manufacturing and purchase of more efficient and sustainable aircraft, undermining the goal of decarbonising aviation.
"EBAA considers this measure unjust, disregarding the positive contributions of business aviation to innovation and sustainability in the aviation industry," its July 8 statement on the matter reads.
Despite campaigning against excluding business aviation from the Taxonomy Delegated Act, the proposal was adopted. Consequently, Dassault Aviation launched its legal action against the European Commission in February 2024. The annulment application argued, among other pleas, that the exclusion breaches the equality principle. The EBAA’s legal team lodged an intervention to support Dassault’s appeal on July 4. The trade group says doing so demonstrates its commitment to safeguarding the competitiveness and future of European business aircraft manufacturers.
"The Commission has carried out an arbitrary political act that must be urgently corrected,” said Krahmer.
