As a consequence of the diminished aviation industry revenues caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, the EU is now backing measures to weaken the climate change commitments proposed under the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) Carbon Offsetting and Reduction Scheme for International Aviation (CORSIA).
While the proposed structure of CORSIA was intended to provide a mechanism for the aviation sector to purchase carbon credits to accommodate the expected growth of air travel in the coming decade, instead of committing airlines to net emission reductions, weakening of the market-based measures will reduce the financial contributions from the offset scheme, and weaken any environmental benefits which may have been garnered from its implementation.