Airlines ask for financial help to develop biofuels Around 1,500 commercial flights have been made using fuel made from plants and waste products, but supplies are limited and costly, said Tony Tyler, chief executive of the International Air Transport Association. "We need governments to adopt policies to help support commercialisation of biofuels to bring up the volume and bring down the price," Mr Tyler said. The industry is under increasing pressure to reduce its environmental impact following the introduction of the European Union's Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) in January, under which airlines operating in Europe are charged for exceeding carbon emission limits. Governments in both North America and Russia have voiced their opposition to ETS, while India and China have ordered their airlines not to cooperate with the scheme. The EU has said it would reconsider its policy if the UN's International Civil Aviation Organization produces a global agreement to regulate emissions. Although aviation accounts for only three per cent of man-made carbon emissions, scientists say it is among the fastest-growing sources. Aircraft manufacturers and energy companies have experimented with fuels made from a variety of plants, including jatropha, an oily nut; camelina, a flower with an oily stem; and algae. The first commercial flight to take off from Britain using biofuel was operated by Thomson Airways in October, and used a combination of used cooking oil and regular jet fuel. At the time Thomson claimed that the use of biofuels could reduce the aviation industry's carbon dioxide emissions by up to 80 per cent, a figure that Mr Tyler reiterated. However, charities such as ActionAid have criticised the use of biofuels. They claim that growing crops to fuel engines rather than feed the local population pushes up the cost of food and increases poverty.