The global representative body for the airline industry, the International Air Transport Association (IATA), has announced the launch of the Supporting Alliance for CORSIA EEU Supply, as part of its commitment to curb aviation’s carbon emissions. CORSIA stands for Carbon Offsetting and Reduction Scheme for International Aviation, and is an initiative of the intergovernmental International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO). EEU stood for Eligible Emission Units.

“CORSIA is the only globally agreed framework to address international aviation emissions, established by ICAO and its member States in 2016,” highlighted IATA senior VP sustainability and chief economist Marie Owens Thomsen. “States, however, have their own obligations under the Paris Agreement and the UNFCCC [UN Framework Convention on Climate Change]. Credits must be transferred between these systems to avoid double-counting, which has become the important bottleneck. The Supporting Alliance will provide implementation assistance to clear this and other bottlenecks that prevent credits from coming to the CORSIA market.”

The alliance has three objectives. First, to pool the resources of the participating organisations and to deal with the bottlenecks by means of implementation assistance that is tailored, pragmatic and practical. Second, to enable and facilitate the management, by countries, of the interface between their UNFCCC Nationally Determined Contributions and the process of making carbon credits available to use, under CORSIA. And third, to increase the access of countries to carbon markets and related resources.

“It should be noted that CORSIA will likely generate $4-billion to $5-billion of climate finance in the first phase, and potentially $100-billion by 2035, depending on market prices,” she pointed out. “This will help fund climate action, support remote communities, and spur economic development. We welcome all carbon market stakeholders and related organisations to join forces in the Supporting Alliance to help CORSIA realise its potential social, economic, and climate benefits.”

Membership of the alliance is open to all airlines, other organisations and national governments who were ready to contribute expertise and practical resources as well as to significantly contribute to the robust implementation of CORSIA and Article 6.2 guidance of the Paris Agreement, along with the development of the CORSIA EEU supply.

The initial membership of the Alliance embraced more than 32 entities. The airline members are Air Asia, Air France-KLM, All Nippon Airways, Austrian Airlines, China Airlines, Corsair, Egyptair, IAG (which embraces British Airways, Iberia, Aer Lingus, Vueling and LEVEL), Japan Airlines, KM Malta Airlines, Lufthansa Group, Pegasus Airlines, Qatar Airways, Scoot, Singapore Airlines and SWISS.