International Civil Aviation Organization’s 214th meeting session. Credit: © International Civil Aviation Organization.

The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) Council has adopted the Standards and Recommended Practices (SARPs) to support the implementation of its Carbon Offsetting and Reduction Scheme for International Aviation (CORSIA) for the industry.

The adoption, which comes less than two years after the CORSI Aagreement, has made the SARPs a part of ICAO’s Convention on International Civil Aviation.

It complements various other ICAO measures such as the improvement of air navigation efficiency, the adopted aircraft carbon dioxide (CO2) certification standard and the long-term vision on the use of sustainable aviation fuels.​

ICAO Council president Dr Olumuyiwa Benard Aliu said: “Gaining agreement on this new Volume IV to Annex 16 is critical to helping States and airlines to operationalise CORSIA per its established deadlines.

“Aviation has now set out not only its climate change goals, but also the means to achieve them.”

“This especially pertains to its monitoring, reporting and verification (MRV) scheme, which describes in detail what has to be done, by whom, starting with the collection of information on international aviation CO2 emissions by airlines as of January 2019.”

The CORSIA MRV provisions had been tested before their adoption, with the support of the Government of Germany and six additional ICAO member states and ten airlines.

Aliu added: “Aviation has now set out not only its climate change goals, but also the means to achieve them.

“The progress achieved today is a clear demonstration of the unwavering commitment, on behalf of both governments and airlines, to minimise the future impact of international aviation on the global climate.”

In addition, ICAO Council has approved the 2018 version of the ICAO CORSIA CO2 Estimation and Reporting Tool (CERT), a simplified tool for small operators to monitor and report their CO2 emissions.

A new agreement has also been signed on the specifics for a CORSIA Central Registry (CCR).