This International Civil Aviation Organisation’s (ICAO) policy’s full title is the Carbon Offsetting and Reduction Scheme for International Aviation. CORSIA ostensibly aims to address and offset the growth in carbon dioxide emissions of international aviation, while achieving what it describes as the industry’s “carbon-neutral growth”.

Unsurprisingly, this juxtaposition of aiming to grow the sector while attempting to offset its carbon footprint has not worked for the climate. Not only does CORSIA not aim to reduce actual emissions, its already weak baseline set on the average of pre-COVID-19 pandemic emissions was weakened further, with only emissions recorded above a threshold of 85% of 2019 emissions eligible for action from 2024 until 2035.

Those emissions exceeding the unambitious baseline must be offset by a form of carbon credit known as ‘eligible emissions’ units. Not only is the practice of ‘offsetting’ an inherently problematic approach to climate action, but the scheme opts for cheap credits that do nothing for the climate and provide no incentive for airlines to reduce their emissions.

CORSIA is not the only policy seeking to address aviation emissions, there is also the EU’s Emissions Trading System. Yet with 126 states signed up to its aims, CORSIA’s reach  is global. However, the scheme is compulsory only in theory, a country can “file a difference”, gaining them an opt-out.  To read more about the unsuitability of CORSIA compared with the EU ETS to navigate the aviation industry’s flightpath to climate action read our assessment here.