Airlines' golden corona life-jacket makes a mockery of the green recovery

The aviation sector has successfully lobbied the ICAO Council to change the CORSIA baseline to 2019 levels, effectively postponing the start of emission offsetting until at least 2024 due to the 2020 drop in flights. The author contends that this change is unnecessary given the low cost of offsets and that governments are failing by providing billions in bailouts—approximately 30 billion euros in the EU and 50 billion in the US—without binding environmental strings. The text calls for regional and national actions, such as kerosene taxes and the EU carbon market, to replace the failing global scheme.

• The ICAO Council agreed to change the CORSIA baseline to 2019 levels for the pilot phase (until 2023), replacing the previously agreed average of 2019-2020 levels. This shift likely delays the actual start of offsetting until 2024 or later because 2020 emissions fell significantly due to grounded aircraft.
• The financial burden of offsetting is minimal, as there is a high supply of low-cost credits. For instance, Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) credits eligible for CORSIA trade at approximately 25 euro cents per credit.
• Governments are providing massive financial aid to airlines without sufficient environmental requirements. The EU has provided nearly 30 billion euros in bailouts, and the US has allocated 50 billion for its airlines.
• While most EU member states supported the CORSIA baseline change as proposed by the European Commission, Sweden opposed the weakening of the policy.
• Switzerland has implemented a new ticket tax where revenues are returned to citizens and reinvested in climate action.

APA

Dufrasne, G. (2020). Airlines' golden corona life-jacket makes a mockery of the green recovery. Carbon Market Watch. https://carbonmarketwatch.org/2020/07/01/airlines-golden-corona-life-jacket-makes-a-mockery-of-the-green-recovery/

Chicago

Dufrasne, Gilles. Airlines' golden corona life-jacket makes a mockery of the green recovery. Carbon Market Watch, 2020. https://carbonmarketwatch.org/2020/07/01/airlines-golden-corona-life-jacket-makes-a-mockery-of-the-green-recovery/.

Wikipedia

{{cite press release |last1=Dufrasne |first1=Gilles |title=Airlines' golden corona life-jacket makes a mockery of the green recovery |publisher=Carbon Market Watch |date=1 July 2020 |url=https://carbonmarketwatch.org/2020/07/01/airlines-golden-corona-life-jacket-makes-a-mockery-of-the-green-recovery/ |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@misc{dufrasne2020airlines, author = {Dufrasne, Gilles}, title = {{Airlines' golden corona life-jacket makes a mockery of the green recovery}}, publisher = {Carbon Market Watch}, year = {2020}, month = jul, url = {https://carbonmarketwatch.org/2020/07/01/airlines-golden-corona-life-jacket-makes-a-mockery-of-the-green-recovery/}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }