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Ready to be regulated? Join the queue.

airplane-over-skyscrappers.JPGSigns of our interesting times: airlines and oil companies are apparently now queuing up to have their greenhouse gas emissions regulated.

A communiqué to the upcoming UN climate conference in Copenhagen has been signed by three European airlines and an Asian one – British Airways, Air France/KLM, Virgin Atlantic and Cathay Pacific – along with the European airport operator BAA. Calling themselves the Aviation Global Deal Group, they say they recognize “the need to find a global solution to our emissions that meets environmental and developmental needs whilst ensuring a level playing field in our markets.” Namely, they want carbon dioxide emissions from aviation to be regulated with a sectoral approach that applies to their overseas competitors.

As things stand, the EU’s emissions trading scheme is due include plane exhaust starting in 2012, which should make it more expensive to fly through Europe. For long-haul flights from Asia by carriers like Cathay Pacific, the EU will count total emissions rather than just gases released in European airspace, Reuters notes.

Across the pond, the New York Times reports that oil companies are in much the same mood, aiming to shape low-carbon policies they see as inevitable under Obama.

Anna Barnett

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