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.