There is a historical opportunity to address the aviation CO2 emissions at global level. For Europe, it requires that all its institutions agree to implement the ICAO Carbon Offsetting and Reduction Scheme for International Aviation (CORSIA) as a replacement to the EU aviation Emissions Trading Scheme ETS.
The Commission warmly welcomed the CORSIA agreement and The EU Member States volunteered to be part of it as from 2021. This was a clear indication they were in favour of a genuine global offsetting scheme to mitigate the effects of aviation on climate change, given the global impact of all CO2 emissions. However, the EP ENVI Committee seems to have gone in a different direction.
Sylviane Lust, Director General of the Airline International Representation in Europe (AIRE) stated: “Today’s vote in ENVI Committee is a very unfortunate and risky backwards step. Instead of promoting a global resolution to a global problem, it has chosen to tighten and prolong a regional scheme, creating a precedent for a patchwork of systems and potentially discriminating against European airlines”.
The 19 members of AIRE hope that the European Parliament will correct this approach at its plenary session in September and join the Council and the Commission in a coherent and cohesive endorsement of the CORSIA agreement as a unique instrument to address the aviation CO2 emissions.
