European Commission welcomes significant progress at ICAO

March 3, 2019 - The European Commission welcomes the adoption of the full set of robust emissions units eligibility criteria by ICAO Council at 216th International Civil Aviation Organization Council (ICAO). The adoption of these criteria present an important milestone for the operationalisation of the Carbon Offsetting and Reduction Scheme for Aviation called CORSIA. CORSIA is the first-ever global scheme to address CO2 emissions from international aviation. Offsetting programmes will be able to apply to ICAO’s Technical Advisory Body for consideration of their eligibility in CORSIA . Applications submitted will be published on the ICAO CORSIA website, and the public will be invited to submit comments on the submissions.

 Background Aviation accounts for approximately 2 per cent of global CO2 emissions produced by human activity. International aviation is responsible for approximately 1.3 per cent of global CO2 emissions. The Carbon Offsetting and Reduction Scheme for International Aviation (CORSIA) is an offsetting scheme whereby emissions growth above their level in 2020 are offset, or compensated for, by the purchase of units, sometimes referred to as "credits" issued in respect of emissions reduction projects on the ground. 78 states representing 76.63% of international aviation activity, intend to participate in the scheme. The other states are invited to inform ICAO by June 2020 of their intention to join the pilot phase. The EU will also continue to encourage its international partners to join the scheme and start offsetting emissions when the voluntary phase begins in 2021.