Airlines urged to ‘keep the faith’ in CORSIA amid shortage of eligible emissions units
Efforts are intensifying to address supply shortage issues before mandatory phase of the global market-based mechanism begins in 2027.
Proponents of the carbon offsetting and reduction scheme for international aviation (CORSIA) are urging airlines to “keep the faith” in the globally agreed market-based mechanism, as efforts intensify to address a supply shortage of eligible emissions units (EEUs) ahead of its mandatory phase in 2027.
CORSIA was endorsed by ICAO member states in October 2016 with the aim of stabilising carbon dioxide emissions from international flights. Any growth in emissions above 85% of 2019 levels must be offset through the purchase of certified EEUs.
As CORSIA marks its tenth anniversary and prepares for the beginning of its second phase in 2027 – when compliance becomes mandatory for airlines in participating states – there is a shortage of available EEUs.
IATA estimates that 200-250 million EEUs will be required for the initial compliance cycle, but as of August 2026, it says 42 CORSIA-compatible letters of intent covered 72 million EEUs, meaning there is “a substantial gap”.
The industry body is seeking to address bottlenecks in the supply of EEUs through its Supporting Alliance, which brings together more than 80 CORSIA stakeholders. IATA announced during its World Sustainability Symposium in Brussels on 13 October that ICAO has joined the coalition.
Its aims are to facilitate the processes to authorise emissions units for use under CORSIA while avoiding double-counting, which IATA says will help countries navigate the interface between their nationally determined contributions (NDCs) – or national climate action plans – under the Paris Agreement and the requirements for authorising CORSIA-certified EEUs.
“Through close collaboration, we are ensuring that sufficient CORSIA EEUs will be available, and our participation in the CORSIA Supporting Alliance will strengthen the pathway to carbon-neutral growth,” says Tetsuya Tanaka, deputy director, environment at ICAO.
Speaking on a panel during the IATA sustainability event, Annie Petsonk, the former international counsel at the Environmental Defense Fund who served as assistant secretary of transportation for aviation and international affairs under the Biden administration, reflected on the effort that went into designing CORSIA and securing international co-operation, and urged airlines to “keep the faith” in the mechanism going forward.
Petsonk says consistency is crucial for market-based measures (MBMs) to work and calls on governments not to “change the rules arbitrarily”.
“The success of MBMs, which the airlines really wanted, depends on investor belief that the cap will be enforced,” she adds.
While improving the criteria for EEUs “over time is a great thing”, Douglas Greenwell, commercial director carbon at BURN – which generates CORSIA-eligible carbon credits to fund its distribution of fuel-efficient cookstoves across Africa – says any changes must “give us time to be able to respond”. He adds: “We need consistency to be able to scale the market.”
IATA has voiced fierce opposition to the European Commission’s own emissions trading system, the so-called EU ETS – particularly its proposed expansion to include flights beyond the European Economic Area from 2029 if it does not see progress on CORSIA – which its chief economist and senior vice-president sustainability Marie Owens Thomsen sees as “a stampede on the terrain of ICAO”.
There were similar calls from other industry speakers at the event, who want CORSIA to be the only MBM that applies to aviation.
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