As the 220th session of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) Council is underway, the ‘International Coalition for Sustainable Aviation’ (ICSA) sent a letter to ICAO on Friday 26 June, calling on it not to change the base period for calculating airlines' CO2 offset requirements under the Carbon Offset and Reduction Scheme for International Aviation (CORSIA).
"Taking such a decision in the midst of the crisis, behind closed doors, while taxpayers are paying for airline's rescue packages, will feel like a betrayal to the public and will destroy confidence in ICAO’s ability to lead", says the coalition of civil society organisations.
This change in the reference period is called for by the International Air Transport Association (IATA) in particular.
Indeed, IATA believes that ICAO's initial choice to use the average CO2 emissions of the years 2019 and 2020 as a baseline for determining offset requirements would now put airlines at risk, as they will have to purchase more offsets than expected due to the exceptional drop in aviation emissions in 2020 caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.
It would therefore like the reference period to be limited to the year 2019, an amendment for which the European Union has already expressed its support (see EUROPE 12502/4).
However, in the view of the ICSA, this would probably lead to a postponement of the offset obligations, as emissions from international aviation are likely to remain well below their 2019 level for a long time to come due to the reduction in air traffic.
According to the Commission, such a decision would thus considerably weaken CORSIA's ability to lead to a real reduction in emissions.
The session of the ICAO Council, which was due to end on 26 June, has been extended. A decision on the reference period could be announced this week.
See the letter: https://bit.ly/31ywB7H (Original version in French by Damien Genicot)