ICAO new year’s resolution – 3 steps towards robust aviation pollution rules

Scroll down for French and Spanish The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) is currently finalising the rules for its carbon offsetting scheme that will enter into force come January 1 of next year. Lack of transparency and possibly non-binding offset credit criteria risk undermining efforts to make the aviation sector do its fair share of …

Markets must increase climate ambition – Carbon Market Watch priorities at the COP23 in Bonn

BRUSSELS 3 November 2017. The next round of UN climate talks takes place in Bonn from 6 to 17 November, under the Fijian Presidency, on how to implement the Paris climate deal. One open question is the role carbon markets will play in meeting global climate targets. Carbon Market Watch will be in Bonn to follow …

Time for ICAO to open its climate change black box

The United Nations climate conferences bring together governments, academics, civil society, media and many others regularly to discuss climate change in the context of the UN Framework Convention. The next meeting takes place 6-17 November in Bonn. At the same time, behind closed doors without public scrutiny, the UN aviation body meets to decide on …

Too big to fail? Environmental responsibilities of the UNFCCC and ICAO processes for aviation’s new carbon market

Last year, states created an offsetting scheme to compensate for aviation’s pollution growth above 2020 levels. The Carbon Offsetting and Reduction Scheme for International Aviation (CORSIA) is supposed to contribute to the temperature goals of the Paris Agreement. However, compensating for growing emissions does not reduce emissions overall, nor put the sector on a pathway to do so. ICAO will finalize details for the CORSIA by the end of 2017. Crucial elements include the type of credits allowed, registry design, and Monitoring, Reporting and Verification (MRV) rules.

More work needed to make aviation’s climate tool fit for purpose

Climate action is multiplying outside of the UN climate talks (UNFCCC), from the Kigali Agreement on the highly potent greenhouse gas HFCs to International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) agreeing to offset emissions from international aviation. Nevertheless, they all have connections to the UNFCCC where the bulk of the world’s effort against climate change is managed. …

Report: Offsetting in the aviation sector

Efforts to address the rapid growth of emissions from air travel have been under discussion for years within the United Nations’ aviation body – the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO). In 2013, ICAO agreed on a goal of limiting international aviation’s net emissions growth to 2020 levels (estimated at roughly 700 million tonnes CO2 per year in 20201 ), via a mix of efficiency measures, biofuel use, technology and operational improvements including a CO2 standard, and a global market-based measure (GMBM). In other words, the industry’s growth from 2020 onward should be “neutral” in terms of net CO2 emissions.

Global aviation climate measure an uncertain first step

MONTREAL | BRUSSELS, 6 October 2016. Today, negotiators at the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) Assembly agreed on a deal to address international aviation emissions. The deal falls far short of ICAO’s original goal of compensating the sector’s overall emissions growth from 2020. Explicit language -included in the Paris Agreement- on international oversight and environmental safeguards …