Afghanistan and Rwanda became the latest countries in Africa and the Middle East region to announce their intention to participate in the pilot phase of ICAO's Carbon Offsetting and Reduction Scheme for International Aviation (CORSIA), which is voluntary. These commitments represent an important contribution towards the momentum underpinning CORSIA. As a result, 86 States representing 76.76% of international aviation activities are now committed to the voluntary phase.
IATA commends the all the States who have volunteered for showing climate leadership. The decision to volunteer increases the effectiveness of the scheme by ensuring that more flights are covered. With more states participating, the demand for offsets will grow, driving investment in developing countries where many of the offset projects are located. Volunteering also allows both states and airlines to gain early experience of carbon trading, while the costs of the scheme are low. We look forward to seeing more countries volunteering
In parallel, the ICAO Council confirmed on June 30 that the baseline for implementing CORSIA will be calculated using only emissions data for 2019. IATA has advocated strongly at ICAO for CORSIA to proceed in line with the intent and impact of the original 2016 agreement by neutralizing the impact of this unprecedented industry crisis on the baseline calculation.
The ICAO decision provides immediate certainty and a clear path forward for the successful implementation of CORSIA. CORSIA is a critical step towards achieving the industry’s long-term strategy to address climate change by reducing its carbon emissions.
While providing crucial contributions toward the achievement of 15 of the 17 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), international aviation activities generate 1.3% of all carbon emissions resulting from human activity. The aviation industry is committed to reducing the environmental impact of each flight through a basket of measures, with CORSIA playing a significant role within ICAO’s SDG strategy.
