Government plans to help consumers and businesses to offset the amount of pollution that they create have suffered a setback, after Britain’s leading airlines dropped out of negotiations.

Carriers thought to include British Airways, Virgin Atlantic and easyJet have walked away from talks on a proposed carbon-offsetting scheme being put together by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra).

The decision by the airlines late last week came soon after Gordon Brown, the Chancellor, had announced in the Pre-Budget Report that he would double air passenger duty.

An industry source said that airlines maintained that the environmental tax on passengers, in the form of the air passenger duty, was sizeable already.

Defra is in the early stages of consulting British companies on a scheme that would establish a benchmark standard for firms wishing to offer their customers the opportunity to offset their “carbon footprint” — carbon emissions that they are responsible for creating.

Airline executives are thought to have been concerned that the Government was trying to create a scheme that would treat all businesses in the same way. That, executives feared, could have overburdened airlines, which might find it harder to reduce emissions than companies in other industries. There were fears that the Government would dictate to the industry how the scheme would operate.

“Everyone felt the Defra plan was a step too far, especially in a week when the Chancellor had increased passenger taxes,” one industry source said.

A meeting of Defra officials had been planned for today to discuss the proposals further.

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