Prepared for the Ad Hoc Working Group on the Paris Agreement, Second Part of the first session, COP 22, 7-14 November 2016
Carbon Market Watch welcomes the opportunity to provide input to the APA discussions[1] as they relate to the market mechanism agreed in October 2016 at the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) 39th Assembly and adjustments needed to accurately harmonize the climate measure with ongoing work in the UNFCCC.
Parties to ICAO recently adopted a ‘GMBM scheme in the form of the Carbon Offsetting and Reduction Scheme for International Aviation (CORSIA)’ to offset annual increases in CO2 emissions from civil aviation above 2020 levels. The scheme will be voluntary through 2026 before a mandatory phase including all countries with the exception of Lead Developed Countries (LDCs) Small Island Developing States (SIDS) and Landlocked Developing Countries (LLDCs) unless they volunteer to participate.
The structure of the scheme is still undefined as monitoring, reporting and verification (MRV), offset criteria, registries and the constitution of a technical advisory body have yet to be established.
Nevertheless, the Resolution does make a clear reference to the eligibility of UNFCCC credits provided they meet the offset criteria to be established in an ICAO technical working group:
“Decides that emissions units generated from mechanisms established under the UNFCCC and the Paris Agreement are eligible for use in CORSIA, provided that they align with decisions by the Council, with the technical contribution of CAEP, including on avoiding double counting and on eligible vintage and timeframe;”
With a clear link established between the UNFCCC and the ICAO market based measure, guidance under the Paris Agreement must ensure that the CORSIA contributes to the goals of the Paris Agreement and does not undermine the achievement of nationally determined contributions (NDCs). To this aim, it is imperative to ensure that rules are in place to transparently communicate the aviation sector’s progress towards the long term goal, avoid double counting by adjusting NDCs to account for UNFCCC units used under the CORSIA, strengthen public access to information, and ensure that progress under ICAO feeds into reviews such as the synthesis report, the facilitative dialogue, and the global stocktake.
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