ICAO New Year’s Resolution: 3 steps towards robust aviation pollution rules

Carbon Market Watch criticizes the lack of transparency and the voluntary nature of offset criteria in ICAO's CORSIA scheme, warning that these flaws, combined with a reliance on low-quality CDM credits, could render the program's climate contribution null.

• The ICAO is finalizing rules for its carbon offsetting mechanism, which aims to compensate for emissions growth above 2020 levels. These rules are to be adopted by the 36 ICAO Council member countries by June 2018 and will apply to all countries starting January 1, 2019.
• There is a significant lack of transparency regarding the draft rules for the offsetting scheme. ICAO did not make the draft rules public, although the governments of Germany, Norway, and the United Kingdom did so. Furthermore, the draft rules do not explicitly require that information on final offsetting requirements be disclosed publicly.
• The current drafting of the rules allows individual countries to determine what constitutes an eligible offset on a voluntary basis. Carbon Market Watch argues that the ICAO Council must instead make offset eligibility criteria mandatory to ensure the rules are not rendered useless.
• Aviation emissions contribute approximately 4.9% to global warming and are projected to increase by up to 300% by 2050 if unaddressed. The sector could potentially consume 25% of the total carbon budget required to limit warming to 1.5 degrees by 2050.
• CORSIA is criticized for only covering a portion of emissions growth above 2020 levels and failing to address emissions below that threshold. Additionally, the projected price for future offsets is low, around 20 cents per tonne, particularly if UN Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) credits are accepted without further quality criteria.
• The environmental effectiveness of CDM credits has been questioned by various studies, including the UN Environment's Emissions Gap Report. A blanket approval of these credits would mean CORSIA's contribution to global climate action would be zero.

APA

Perlman, K. (2018). ICAO New Year’s Resolution: 3 steps towards robust aviation pollution rules. Carbon Market Watch. https://carbonmarketwatch.org/2018/01/11/icao-new-years-resolution-3-steps-towards-robust-aviation-pollution-rules-2/

Chicago

Perlman, Kelsey. ICAO New Year’s Resolution: 3 steps towards robust aviation pollution rules. Carbon Market Watch, 2018. https://carbonmarketwatch.org/2018/01/11/icao-new-years-resolution-3-steps-towards-robust-aviation-pollution-rules-2/.

Wikipedia

{{cite press release |last1=Perlman |first1=Kelsey |title=ICAO New Year’s Resolution: 3 steps towards robust aviation pollution rules |publisher=Carbon Market Watch |date=11 January 2018 |url=https://carbonmarketwatch.org/2018/01/11/icao-new-years-resolution-3-steps-towards-robust-aviation-pollution-rules-2/ |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@misc{perlman2018icao, author = {Perlman, Kelsey}, title = {{ICAO New Year’s Resolution: 3 steps towards robust aviation pollution rules}}, publisher = {Carbon Market Watch}, year = {2018}, month = jan, url = {https://carbonmarketwatch.org/2018/01/11/icao-new-years-resolution-3-steps-towards-robust-aviation-pollution-rules-2/}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }