Revealing and comparing the gaps in carbon pricing policy for the aviation sector

The document assesses the effectiveness of the EU ETS and CORSIA in addressing aviation emissions, finding that both schemes fail to cover non-CO2 effects and that CORSIA's reliance on low-quality offsets and a high baseline limits its climate impact. It recommends extending the EU ETS to all flights departing from the European Economic Area (EEA) by 2027.

• The EU ETS has historically provided limited coverage of aviation's climate impact; between 2013 and 2023, only approximately 20% of CO2 emissions from flights to or from the EU were priced, which represents at most 7% of the sector's total climate impact.
• Non-CO2 aviation effects, such as water vapour, nitrogen oxides, sulphur dioxide, and soot, can account for up to 75% of the sector's climate impact, yet these are currently outside the scope of both the EU ETS and CORSIA carbon pricing.
• The EU ETS is a cap-and-trade system where the total number of allowances decreases over time, but its impact was previously reduced by free allowances, which accounted for about half of the total allowances surrendered by airlines from 2013 to 2023. These free allowances will be phased out by 2026.
• CORSIA is an offsetting scheme rather than a cap-and-trade system, focusing only on emissions that exceed a baseline set at 85% of total 2019 CO2 emissions (approximately 425 Mt CO2). This means emissions below the threshold are not mitigated.
• CORSIA faces significant implementation risks, including the absence of major emitters like Brazil, China, India, Russia, and Vietnam, and the use of low-quality carbon credits that lack additionality and permanence.
• There is a vast disparity in carbon pricing between the two schemes; in 2022, EU ETS prices were €80 per tonne of CO2, while CORSIA credits averaged only 3.20€/tCO2, providing little incentive for airlines to decarbonize.

APA

Bonnet-Cantalloube, B. (2024). Revealing and comparing the gaps in carbon pricing policy for the aviation sector. Carbon Market Watch. https://carbonmarketwatch.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/Policy-brief-EU-ETS-vs-CORSIA-Which-better-navigates-the-turbulence-of-the-climate-crisis.pdf

Chicago

Bonnet-Cantalloube, Bastien. Revealing and comparing the gaps in carbon pricing policy for the aviation sector. Carbon Market Watch, 2024. https://carbonmarketwatch.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/Policy-brief-EU-ETS-vs-CORSIA-Which-better-navigates-the-turbulence-of-the-climate-crisis.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Bonnet-Cantalloube |first1=Bastien |title=Revealing and comparing the gaps in carbon pricing policy for the aviation sector |publisher=Carbon Market Watch |date=November 2024 |url=https://carbonmarketwatch.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/Policy-brief-EU-ETS-vs-CORSIA-Which-better-navigates-the-turbulence-of-the-climate-crisis.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{bonnetcantalloube2024revealing, author = {Bonnet-Cantalloube, Bastien}, title = {{Revealing and comparing the gaps in carbon pricing policy for the aviation sector}}, institution = {Carbon Market Watch}, year = {2024}, month = nov, url = {https://carbonmarketwatch.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/Policy-brief-EU-ETS-vs-CORSIA-Which-better-navigates-the-turbulence-of-the-climate-crisis.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }