US carriers are still committed to the Carbon Offset and Reduction Scheme for International Aviation (CORSIA), says Alexandre de Juniac, IATA’s director-general, on the eve of the association’s AGM in Cancun.
“We understand that our US members are strongly committed to maintain in CORSIA as it is… to avoid having a patchwork of different regulations, taxations, different financial systems… that would tremendously complexify operations and increase costs,” he states.
De Juniac’s comments follow the announcement by the Donald Trump administration on 1 June that the USA would withdraw from the UN’s Paris accord on climate change.
“Legally and politically the two agreements are completely separate,” de Juniac says. “So the US administration can quit the Paris agreement and still be committed to CORSIA.”
IATA has not, however, had any direct assurances from the US government that it is still committed to the emissions agreement, which was hailed as “aviation’s Paris moment” by ICAO when it was ratified in October last year. The association is “waiting for the next announcement… the next tweet”, de Juniac states.
“We have no indication of any different position on CORSIA from the US administration,” he says. “So we think, with the information we have, that the US government should remain part of CORSIA agreement.”
De Juniac adds that the US administration – then under former president Barack Obama – played a “critical” role in the formation of CORSIA.
“[The USA has] played a leading role in finalising negotiations… leading the negotiation with the Chinese and putting everything together,” he says.
Source: Cirium Dashboard
