IATA to make airlines’ compliance with carbon reduction mandatory by 2027

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) says it will make compliance with the Carbon Offsetting and Reduction Scheme for International Aviation (CORSIA) mandatory for airlines by 2027.

The Director-General of IATA, Mr Alexandre de Juniac, made the disclosure while speaking at the CAPA Aero-political and Regulatory Affairs Summit in Doha, Qatar on Tuesday.

A copy of de Juniac’s speech was obtained from the IATA website by our reporter in Lagos.

He said CORSIA was a game-changing global agreement on climate change that would enable aviation to achieve carbon-neutral growth from 2020.

“From the start of this year, all airlines are monitoring their emissions from international flights which they will then report to their governments.

“This process will form a baseline; and the licence to grow for airlines will be offset that they purchase to support carbon-reduction programmes in other parts of the economy.

“Of course, CORSIA alone is not enough. We are working with governments and across the industry to reduce emissions with new technology.

“It also include increasing deployment of sustainable aviation fuels, improved infrastructure and more efficient operations,” the IATA chief said.

According to him, CORSIA will play a vital role in filling the gap until these efforts reach maturity.

de Juniac said: “From a regulatory perspective what is truly unique is that the industry asked for this regulation.

“We lobbied hard for it because we accepted our climate change responsibility.

“We even worked alongside governments to lend our operational expertise to ensure the implementation measures are efficient and effective.

“CORSIA will be mandatory from 2027. Already governments accounting for about 80 per cent of aviation are signed up for the preceding voluntary period; and we are actively encouraging more governments to join.”

He said IATA, being the apex global aviation organisation for airlines, was closely monitoring to ensure that the implementation was fully aligned with the agreed International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) specifications.