The Extraordinary Climate Agreement on International Aviation: An Airline Industry Perspective

The Carbon Offset and Reduction Scheme for International Aviation (CORSIA), adopted by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) in October 2016, addresses the growth in total CO2 emissions from international aviation above 2020 levels. Prior to the scheme, there was a high risk that states would introduce climate policies that would lead to a costly patchwork of overlapping and distortive measures. The International Air Transport Association (IATA) played a crucial role in developing workable solutions that helped secure a global approach to addressing CO2 emissions from international aviation. (ICAO is an international governmental organization, and IATA is a business association.)

No other sector has a climate policy that places an absolute global cap on net CO2 emissions. A key design feature of CORSIA is that it incorporates the concept of shared responsibility for managing CO2 emissions. The offset responsibility of individual carriers is, initially in full and later in part, determined by the industry CO2 growth factor. Furthermore, the scheme is phased in a way that addresses the special circumstances and respective capabilities of developing countries while ensuring uniform treatment of aircraft operators.

This paper has six sections. It starts by introducing the key relevant characteristics of air transport. The second section provides historical context in which the industry climate change strategy was developed. The third section provides an overview of the technical work of the IATA Climate Change Task Force. The fourth section highlights the key industry decision points taken by IATA members. The fifth section explains the key design features of CORSIA as adopted by ICAO. The last section highlights next steps for CORSIA implementation.