Carbon Offsetting as a Trade Related Market Based Measure for Aircraft Engine Emissions

Abstract

The 39th Assembly of International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), held from 27 September to 7 October 2016 adopted by consensus a Resolution on a Global Market Based Measure (GMBM) to address and mitigate the effects of aircraft engine emissions on the environment. According to the Resolution (which replaces Assembly Resolution A38-18 and which had some reservations of States attached to it), a GMBM scheme would be implemented in the form of a Carbon Offsetting and Reduction Scheme for International Aviation (CORSIA) to address any annual increase in total CO2 emissions from international civil aviation (i.e. civil aviation flights that depart in one country and arrive in a different country) above 2020 levels, taking into account Special Circumstances and Respective Capabilities (SCRC) of States. CORSIA would be implemented in three phases while accommodating SCRC, in particular of developing States, while at the same time minimizing market distortion. The Resolution was in response to a specification in Resolution A38-18 adopted at the Assembly three years earlier which required the Assembly in 2016 to develop a GMBM scheme. It took six years, from the 37th Assembly in 2010 (which required the Council to explore the feasibility and modalities of a GMBM scheme) to the 39th Session in 2016 for ICAO to come up with a scheme, which, until 2024 would be a voluntary pilot scheme that would not be an active GMBM. Thereafter, through 2027 the scheme would still be semi experimental. In the meanwhile, pollution caused by engine emissions would exponentially grow over the next ten years. This article examines the latest ICAO effort against its historical background and evolution, together with a discussion on its effectiveness from a legal perspective.