The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) clarified the requirements related to the CAO Carbon Offsetting and Reduction Scheme for International Aviation (CORSIA).
ICAO indicated that a new amendment to Annex 16 of the Chicago Convention will help stakeholders get more clarity about the “monitoring, reporting, and verification requirements relating to” CORSIA.
According to the organization, the amendment also includes a new threshold for smaller airlines, confirms the offsetting calculation to be used by new airlines that do not qualify to the status of a “new entrant,” and “formalizes alignment adjustments relevant to related and recently updated ISO Standards, and the outcomes of the 41st ICAO Assembly [held in October 2022 – ed. note].”
Additional amendments “address aircraft noise and aircraft engine emissions, relating mainly to their conformity and applicability requirements”.
“The progress achieved this week in this area re-affirms States’ commitment to their Strategic Objective on Environmental Protection, including by addressing the climate crisis and the aviation sector’s readiness to address challenges relating to local air quality and aircraft noise,” stated Salvatore Sciacchitano, the Council President of the ICAO.
The organization’s Secretary General Jaun Carlos Salazar added that “effective cooperation among the government and NGO experts in ICAO’s Committee on Aviation Environmental Protection (CAEP), in addition to the tremendous support it has received from the Air Navigation Commission, were critical to the successful adoption of this important set of amendments.”
Starting on July 31, 2023, the amendments to Annex 16 of the Chicago Convention will take effect, and they will be applicable from January 1, 2024.
CORSIA is a global market-based measure that offers “a harmonized way to reduce emissions from international aviation, minimizing market distortion, while respecting the special circumstances and respective capabilities of ICAO Member States.”
The scheme will be implemented in three phases, namely the pilot phase (between 2021 and 2023), first phase (2024 and 2026), and second phase (2027 and 2035). For the pilot and first phase, member states can participate voluntarily. However, all member states will have to participate from the start of the second phase.
According to ICAO, as of January 1, 2023, 115 states announced their intention to participate in CORSIA.
