The Carbon Offsetting and Reduction Scheme for International Aviation (CORSIA) is the first global market-based scheme that applies to a sector, and complements other aviation in-sector emissions reductions efforts such as technological innovations, operational improvements and sustainable fuels to meet ICAO aspirational goal of carbon-neutral growth.
Under CORSIA, all States that have aeroplane operators that perform international flights are required to monitor, report and verify (MRV) CO2 emissions from these flights every year from 2019. In addition to annual CO2 MRV, 88 States have volunteered to participate in offsetting CO2 emissions under CORSIA from its pilot phase starting in 2021.
In March 2020, the ICAO Council approved six Emissions Unit Programmes: American Carbon Registry; China GHG Voluntary Emission Reduction Program; Clean Development Mechanism; Climate Action Reserve; The Gold Standard; and Verified Carbon Standard, to supply CORSIA eligible emissions units for compliance use in the pilot phase.
The Technical Advisory Body (TAB) is currently assessing ten Emissions Unit Programmes that have submitted their applications to make recommendations for the Council’s consideration in November 2020.
ACT-CORSIA: Assistance, Capacity Building and Training on CORSIA, established in June 2018, encompasses the CORSIA Buddy Partnerships, and all ICAO outreach initiatives including sample model regulations for CORSIA, frequently asked questions (FAQs), brochures, leaflets, videos as well as CORSIA seminars/webinars and online tutorials.
ACT-CORSIA Buddy Partnerships: The core of capacity building relies on individual training of CORSIA Focal Points and involves experts from 16 donor States to train experts from 115 recipient States. Phase III started in May 2020. Its focus is to provide training on the CCR. By August 2020, Afghanistan, Armenia, Bahamas, Bangladesh, Belarus, Bhutan, Burkina Faso, Bolivia, Cambodia, Comoros, Cook Islands, Costa Rica, Cuba, Democratic Republic of Congo, Djibouti, El Salvador, Equatorial Guinea, Fiji, Gabon, Gambia, Georgia, Ghana, Guatemala, Honduras, Iraq, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kiribati, Liberia, Libya, Madagascar, Malaysia, Malawi, Mauritius, Myanmar, Namibia, North Macedonia, Oman, Paraguay, Peru, Republic of Moldova, Samoa, Serbia, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Solomon Islands, Somalia, Togo, Vanuatu, Zambia and Zimbabwe had received training and more training sessions are planned until the end of 2020.
Webinar on CORSIA Eligible Emissions Units: In August 2020, ICAO held a webinar to explain the ICAO process and the work of the Technical Advisory Body (TAB) to assess Emissions Units Programmes against the ICAO CORSIA criteria for eligibility of emissions units.
CORSIA Verification Training Course: To provide training on how to verify CO2 Emissions Reports prepared by aeroplane operators, ICAO delivered five sessions (in-person and virtual classroom) of the CORSIA Verification Course, including one in August 2020.