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CANCUN, Mexico — The decision last week by President Donald Trump to pull out of the Paris Agreement isn’t a setback to a sister United Nations agreement completed last year governing international aviation emissions, industry leaders insisted.
“Let me also reassure you that the disappointing decision of the U.S. to back out of the Paris agreement is not a setback for CORSIA,” IATA director general Alexandre de Juniac said during his keynote speech at the trade organization’s annual general meeting.
CORSIA is the acronym for the Carbon Offset Reduction Scheme for International Aviation, which the U.N.’s 191-member International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) completed last October.
“The alternative to CORSIA,” de Juniac continued, “is a patchwork of measures that would be ineffective, costly and unmanageable. Our membership remains united behind CORSIA and our climate change goals.”
Under CORSIA, air carriers that see emissions rise above 2020 levels would have to purchase carbon-offset credits to mitigate that increase. The regulations won’t apply to domestic air travel, which is regulated nation by nation.
Its implementation will begin with a voluntary phase lasting from 2021 to 2027, after which it will become mandatory. All nations, except a few especially poor states, will be required to participate at that time.
Aviation accounts for approximately 2% of global greenhouse gas emissions.
The goal of CORSIA is to reduce international aviation emissions to 50% of 2005 levels by 2050.
Seventy nations, representing 80% of international aviation activity, have so far agreed to participate in the voluntary phase. The U.S. is among those participants.
Also speaking at the IATA Annual General Meeting, ICAO president Aliu Olumuyiwa assured the audience that Trump’s decision about Paris won’t impact CORSIA.
On Tuesday, IATA director of aviation environment Michael Gill doubled down on the reassurance, saying that the U.S. has given no indication that it will back away from the support it gave CORSIA during the Obama administration.
But when pressed about whether new assurances had been given by Trump administration officials, Gill said no.
“We don’t believe there is any necessity to seek that reassurance at this point of time,” he said.
Gill also downplayed the impact that U.S. withdrawal would have during the 2021-2017 voluntary portion of CORSIA.
“The overall impact throughout its lifetime is not going to be significant if one jurisdiction decides to withdraw,” he said.
Sоurсе: travelweekly.com
