This new tax is expected to boost each EU passenger fare from $3-$15. Revenues raised by the new tax, it’s been calculated, could add up to $26 billion over the rest of the decade. The funds will be invested in efforts to slow global warming, and should spur greener technologies in the aviation industry, which is responsible for roughly 3 percent of all global carbon dioxide emissions.

Europe decided to create its own aviation carbon taxation system only after the rest of the world failed to act. Negotiations overseen by a United Nations agency aimed at creating an international carbon cap-and-trade pact have dragged on for 10 years.

Global airlines have lodged many objections to the EU’s initiative, but none is stronger than its stipulation that a Europe-bound flight gets taxed from start to finish, not just when flying over Europe. Cries of outrage invoke national sovereignty and conflicting international aviation agreements. Some countries may try not paying the tax or may make further court appeals, according to the New York Times. Sabre-rattling has even extended to hints of a trade war directed at the EU.

Significantly, some airlines support the new tax. One is Virgin Atlantic, which issued this statement: “Virgin Atlantic has long been a supporter of the EU Emissions Trading Scheme as the first step towards a future global solution ensuring aviation plays its part in meeting climate change targets. However, its success is being seriously undermined.”

What will really happen when the tax goes into effect will soon be known. But this much is clear: Europe intends to stand firm, believing that action to reduce global warming is too important to delay. When the rest of the world decides to act, they say, they’ll happily make changes to their cap-and-trade system to help create a true multinational process for reducing dangerous aviation emissions.

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But is there a whiff of french fries in the air? On its veggie diet, my ancient Mercedes approximates the smell of a McDonald’s as it cruises merrily along the freeway.

A plane that travels from Hawaii to New York City exhausts an average of 2-plus tons of greenhouse gases per passenger. Do the math: 150 passengers = 300 tons of gases. We Americans are notorious energy hogs, and we are responsible, on average, for only 2 tons of carbon emissions per an entire year.

Biofuel is made from renewable organic raw materials. The plants used in the production of biofuel absorb carbon dioxide, which is released back into the atmosphere when the biofuel combusts. The use of biofuels has the potential of reducing aviation carbon emissions by up to 80% over the long term.

Airlines today continue to reel from oil’s price volatility–and are sensitive to outcries from their customers when surcharges and other fees are levied as a result. They also know that they depend on a natural resource that is running out. Thus it’s no surprise, really, that these businesses are especially keen on finding alternative fuels that do the job.

Some recent advances:

Lufthansa and Airbus, in July 2011, began the world’s first-ever daily passenger flights using biofuel. Flying four times daily between Hamburg and Frankfurt, the Airbus 321 flights will test the long-term impact of sustainable biofuels on aircraft performance.

Before the end of August 2011, Finnair will fly the world’s longest commercial flight on biofuel, from Amsterdam to Helsinki. Just like my Mercedes, this plane will be fueled on recycled veggie oil. Except that it will be mixed equally with ordinary aviation for this test.

In June 2011, a Gulfstream G450 was the first aircraft to fly from North America to Europe using biofuel. The jet closely followed the route taken by Charles Lindbergh’s famous first flight across the Atlantic. It touched down safely in Paris on a 50/50 blend of Honeywell Green Jet Fuel and petroleum-based fuel powering one of the aircraft’s engines. This biofuel was derived from camelina, a member of the mustard family that grows in rotation with wheat acreage and can also grow on marginal land.

A number of airlines have tried biofuel derived from another little-known plant, jatropha. These include Continental, Air New Zealand, Japan Airlines, TAM Airlines (Brazil) and Interjet (Mexico), which is partnered in its testing with European aircraft maker Airbus. All tests have been deemed successful using fuel from jatropha, a non-edible plant that grows in places where food crops won’t.

To date, a total of 16 test flights by Honeywell have successfully used petroleum alternatives like camelina and jatropha. Algae is also promising as a biofuel source. All are inedible and sustainable, and none required any change to the aircraft engines.

The last thing the world needs is land taken out of food production to grow biofuel plants. So the airline industry’s commitment to testing only inedible plants that grow where food plants don’t is important. Finnair, for one, promises that its biofuel must “significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions, must not compromise food production or lead to biodiversity degradation or deforestation.” Let’s hope they also don’t forget to scent the air with the irresistible odor of french fries.

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