MAR030-3: CORSIA and the Aviation Industry's Carbon Neutrality Target

This essay explores the aviation industry's strategies for reducing carbon emissions, focusing on the Carbon Offsetting and Reduction Scheme for International Aviation (CORSIA) and its potential to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050. It examines the factors influencing carbon emission reduction, effective policies, and regulations, drawing on a systematic literature review. The analysis includes technological advances, operational improvements, sustainable fuels, and market-based measures. The essay also critically reflects on the implications of the findings for practice, policy, and academic research, aiming to determine if the CORSIA scheme can realistically support the aviation industry's net-zero emission target.

Essay
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Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................2
Major Themes..................................................................................................................................3
Aviation industry adopts strategies to reduce carbon emission..............................................3
Factors that influence reduction of carbon emission..............................................................6
Effective policies and regulations are framed........................................................................8
Critical Reflection..........................................................................................................................10
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................14
REFRENCES.................................................................................................................................16
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INTRODUCTION
The aviation industry is one of the biggest sources of carbon emission and contributed to climate
change. On a global scale flights produce 915 million tones of carbon dioxide according to the
2019 data. comparing this to the carbon dioxide produced by humans in the same year there is
huge difference. humans produce over 43 billion tones of carbon dioxide (Facts and Figures,
2022). This showcases that in order to curb the climate change crisis significant steps need to be
taken in the aviation industry so that its carbon emission can be reduced. Taking corrective steps
to reduce carbon emission of the aviation industry will play an important role in tackling climate
change crisis because aviation is responsible for 12% of carbon dioxide emissions from all
transportation sources compared to 74% from road transportation.
The scope of this research is to understand the role of recent measures taken for reducing
carbon emission in the aviation industry particularly the carbon offsetting and reduction scheme
for international aviation in reducing the carbon impact of the aviation industry. The
international air transportation association is aiming for net zero carbon emission by the middle
of the century which is a bold but essential objective for tackling climate change crisis and
reducing the impact of international aviation industry on global warming (Zhang, 2022). The
scope of this research includes understanding the carbon emission offsetting and reduction
scheme for international aviation and the ways it will reduce carbon emission. In addition to this
the research also focuses on covering the factors that influence reduction of carbon emission in
context of the carbon offsetting and reduction scheme for international aviation.
It is important to understand the ways in which this recent scheme will be supporting
carbon emission reduction in the aviation industry so that it can be determined if the goal of
reaching net zero carbon emissions for the aviation industry is realistic (Ydersbond, Buus
Kristensen and Thune-Larsen, 2020). This research will conduct a literature review
systematically to answer the research question of will carbon offsetting reduction scheme will be
able to reduce carbon emission in the aviation industry by the middle of the century. This will
involve completing research on Paris climate accord and the ways in which the international air
transportation association aims to obey the goals of the accords to envisage a massive reduction
emissions without negatively impacting the growing airline operations. This involves
completing to find research on the scheme implemented by international air transport association
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in context of different aspects of the aviation industry including its financial impact and
operational impact.
This type of systematic literature review surrounding the topic will provide insights on
the ways in which the aviation industry is introducing change to counter its harmful impact on
climate and contribution to degradation of the environment. Apart from this another theme which
will be focused in the investigation is the policies and regulations related to the carbon offsetting
end reduction scheme for international aviation so that the implementation process for this
scheme to attain the 2050 net zero emission goal can be explained. All these themes will support
attainment of research question and reaching to an accurate conclusion about the impact of
current scheme on climate change in the aviation industry and its role in reaching net zero
emissions by 2050.
This research will be completed by using information from different online resources
including books journal as well as online articles. this is suitable for completing a systematic
teacher review because it will provide a wide variety of sources from where information can be
collected regarding the impact of carbon offsetting and reduction scheme in aviation industry for
different parts of the aviation industry (Winchester, 2019). In addition to this the sources which
will be used for completing the investigation will be relevant to this year so that the current in
future impacts of the scheme can be determine without usage of any how did it information
regarding the climate change impact of aviation industry and its efforts to reach environmental
friendliness.
Finally this investigation also covers critical reflection which focuses on determining the
implication of literature review findings from major themes in terms of implication for practice
policy and academic research. The purpose of critical reflection will be to highlight and
challenge relevant outcomes in a coherent manner on the basis of the previously conducted
literature review so that a suitable conclusion can be determine regarding the main research
question. The conclusion of the investigation will focus on summarizing the key points and
highlighting the overall argument of this investigation in regards to the research question of the
impact of carbon offsetting and reduction scheme for international aviation on their network to
reach 0 emissions by 2050.
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Major Themes
Aviation industry adopts strategies to reduce carbon emission.
The central theme of this investigation is to understand the strategies adopted by the
aviation industry to reduce carbon emission. This involves understanding the recent carbon
offsetting and reduction scheme for aviation industry in context of their goal to reduce carbon
emission and reach that zero by the middle of century. This team will be covered by using
relevant and recent authors so that the impact goals and future success of this scheme can be
understood in context of aviation industries current carbon impact. It is an important theme to
answer the overall question of the research because it provides possibility to evaluate the carbon
offsetting and reduction scheme for aviation industry to understand the changes and limitations
in the aviation industry when it comes to increasing its sustainability and reducing its carbon
impact. The carbon offsetting and reduction scheme for international aviation is a global market
waste action focusing on reducing international aviation carbon emission in order to create
stability in context of carbon emissions in the aviation industry.
As per the views of Weber (2021) The carbon offsetting and reduction scheme for
international aviation was implemented by the international Civil Aviation organization when it
adopted standards and recommendation practices in June of 2018. This scheme is not applicable
two domestic aviation and only covers the carbon impact of international flights so that aircraft
operators monitor carbon emission an can initiate acquisition off sets for their emissions growth.
The concept of offsetting carbon emissions does not focus using advanced technology for
improving operational and infrastructural factors of the aviation industry. Instead of this the
focus of carbon offsetting and reduction scheme for international aviation is to make
sustainability a priority for International Airlines. The decision made by international Civil
Aviation organization to implement this scheme has been a culmination of many years of the
work at international Civil Aviation organization with the support of the international air aviation
industry and major stakeholders in this sector.
The international Civil Aviation organization has historic legacy of working with
stakeholders to reduce the environmental impact of airline industry without reducing its
economical value and contribution to the global gross domestic product. The efforts made by
international Civil Aviation organization can be evidenced but the fact that since the 1960s
aircrafts have become 80% more fuel efficient and 75% quieter (Scheelhaase and et. al., 2018).
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This data showcases the work done by international Civil Aviation organization to support
continuous improvement in sustainability of the aviation industry so that it is able to lower its
negative environmental impact.
International Civil Aviation organization has achieved unprecedented success in variety
of measures which support improvement in sustainability of the aviation industry an agreement
of the United nations sustainability development goals. In its effort to improve sustainability of
the aviation industry the carbon offsetting and reduction scheme for international aviation is
introduced. Looking at the past history of international Civil Aviation organization in working
towards improving sustainability of the airlines industry it can be analyzed that this scheme will
also benefit sustainability in the aviation industry and will provide successful results in context
of reaching net zero by the middle of the century (Ritchie and et. al., 2020).
The series of measures adopted by the international Civil Aviation organization in order
to improve sustainability of the aviation industry and are taking the strategy of reaching net zero
carbon emission by the middle of the century our technological advances operational
improvements alternative sustainable fuels and market based measures. These measures are part
of the strategy which will help the aviation industry make it just means an improvement in
various areas so that the negative environmental impact of international flight travel can be
minimized. The carbon offsetting and reduction schemes for international aviation is the
determined strategy of international Civil Aviation organization for attaining sustainability in the
Civil Aviation industry through market based measures.
Market based measures such as the carbon offsetting scheme play an important role in
helping the aviation industry achieve its sustainability goals in a timely manner because other
measures suggest technological advancement and presence of alternative fuels require time an
investment with no guarantee of achieving goals related to sustainability in a timely manner. In
addition to this only focusing on operational measures is also not enough to achieve huge
sustainability goals such as reaching net 0 carbon emissions by the middle of the century. this
means that the aviation industry needs to continuously focus on improving their sustainability
through market based approach so that business practices in the international aviation sector can
be changed to support sustainable development (Planès and et. al., 2021).
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The carbon neutral net 0 carbon emissions goal of the international aviation industry can
be achieved with the help of carbon offsetting and reduction scheme for international aviation
because it aims to change the market practices to create a more sustainable international flight
environment. Carbon offsetting is the process through which a company or organization
compensates for its carbon emissions by buying credits from the carbon market . These credits
are generated by projects that reduce carbon emissions in different parts of the world for example
by planting trees that absorb carbon or replacing fossil fuels with renewable energy sources such
as wind and solar.
The carbon offsetting strategy adopted by the international Civil Aviation organization
for managing sustainability of the aviation market is brilliant in creating a market structure which
inherently values sustainability without harming the financial aspects of the international
aviation industry (Nyamdorj and et. al., 2021). The carbon offsetting and reduction scheme for
international aviation will be implemented through a route based approach. This means that only
emissions from international flights between two states where both origin and destination states
are included in CORSIA are part of the scheme.
After knowing the participation of States and the coverage of air routes between
participating states under Carbon offsetting and reduction scheme for international aviation, the
off setting requirements for individual aircrafts is calculated on an annual basis. Each operator
monitors its annual fuel consumption from all its flights on the routes covered by ICAO and
estimates its annual C O2 emissions. After this each operator reports this data to the national
authority of the state. ICAO collects all C O2 emissions data and estimates a sectorial growth
factor or permissions using the sectorial growth factor of emissions every year.
Each operator calculates the amount of CO2 offsetting requirements by multiplying its
emissions with the sectorial growth factor. Than the operator purchases a number of emissions
unit equivalent to this requirement from the carbon market. Each emissions unit corresponds to
one type of C O2 the result used by another project or program (Murphy, 2020). In this way the
carbon offsetting and reduction scheme for international aviation is able to ensure initiation of
sustainable activities from the grassroots level. This is a suitable way of creating a more
sustainable aviation industry as aircraft operators on an individual level along with the state
infrastructure and major stakeholders of the sector work together traduce negative environmental
impact continuously.
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Factors that influence reduction of carbon emission.
As per the views of (), there are different factors which affect sustainability of the international
aviation industry. The primary factor which makes the carbon emissions of the international
aviation industry hi is there impact of aviation fuel usage on the environment. Different
stakeholders in the aviation sector have been working towards find alternative and more
sustainable sources to act as a fuel for international flights. This approach of waiting to find
alternative sustainable sources of fuel for aviation is not effective in getting quick results for
improving sustainability and reaching carbon net zero emissions by the middle of the century.
Therefore the international Civil Aviation organisation implemented the carbon offsetting and
reduction scheme for international aviation as it looks at market based solutions for improving
sustainability in the international aviation sector (Mathys, Wild and Wang, 2021). All the while
actions are also being taken to ensure that sustainability of the aviation fuel used for international
flights is improved by identifying a suitable alternative fuel source.
In context of the carbon offsetting and reduction scheme for internationally vision the
primary factors which will come into play for reducing negative environmental impact of the
international aviation sector are individual flight operators. This is because the data provided by
individual flight operators will help the international civil aviation organisation calculate the
sectorial growth rate which will then again be used by individual flight operators to determine
their carbon offsetting requirements. In this way individual flight operators whether they are
multinational agencies or small individual international jet operators, their responsibility of
providing accurate data to international Civil Aviation organisation will support attainment of the
carbon offsetting induction scheme so that net carbon emissions can be achieved by the middle
of the century.
It is important that the international Civil Aviation organisation ensures that individual
flight operators unable to understand the rules and regulations for communicating accurate data
to ICAO authorities. In addition to this they also need to have the right technology and
understand the procedure of calculating their annual carbon emissions accurately so that useful
data is provided to the international Civil Aviation organisation. The main participants of the
initial phase of the carbon offsetting and reduction scheme need to be communicated in a timely
manner regarding the policies procedures and technology required for sending accurate data back
to the international Civil Aviation organisation (Maertens, Grimme and Scheelhaase, 2020).
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This requires open communication between participant countries and the ICAO so that the
annual carbon emissions data provided by participants and the sectorial growth rate calculated by
ICAO is used effectively by both individual flight operators and the international Civil Aviation
organisation.
As the primary factor affecting sustainability of international flights is jet fuel probably
the most useful approach for increasing sustainability of international air travel is switching from
traditional fossil driven jet fuels to ones that are made from renewable sources and have lower
emissions during production. The international aviation industry including influential
stakeholders suggests international Civil Aviation organisation have been looking for a suitable
alternative fuel for air travel. In addition to this there have also been efforts to identify new
materials and coating technologies to make planes lighter more aerodynamic and more resistance
to wear and tear. Both of these practises are made in order to improve the operational and
technological factors of international aviation more sustainable.
Generally kerosene fused are used by commercial airlines which are made from a mixture
of paraffins naphthalenes aromatics and olefins which are mostly derived from petroleum. The
aviation industry has looked at hydrogen as a suitable source for fuel since it cumbers to produce
water vapour (Macilree and Duval, 2020). The problem in using hydrogen fuel is that
developing hydrogen burning engines is in early stages and creation of suitable technology for
usage of hydrogen as fuel in jet planes is far away in the future. This means that there are
currently not much sustainable options which can be used as alternative jet fuels to reduce the
negative impact of fuel consumption and production on environment. Drop infuse are another
option which have been considered by different companies for reducing negative impact of jet
fuel consumption on the environment.
Under the carbon offsetting and reduction scheme for international aviation the negative
impact of jet fuel production and consumption will be reduced by individual flight operators as
they purchase carbon emissions equivalent to their early consumption of carbon. This will be
calculated by multiplying the secretarial growth rate published by international Civil Aviation
organisation an individual carbon emissions of flight operators so that financial investment is
provided to the international Civil Aviation organisation for implementing projects which help
enhance sustainability and make positive contribution to the environment. In addition to this
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individual flight operators will also be motivated towards investing in their sustainability so they
have to purchase lower number of carbon emissions and are able to save on such expenditure.
Effective policies and regulations are framed.
According to (Kania, Ulfa and Arubusman, 2021), the international Civil Aviation
organization has implemented various regulations in order to ensure that the carbon offsetting
and reduction scheme for international aviation is implemented effectively in different phases.
There is a requirement for strict regulations which are detailed so that different participant
countries an individual flight operators are able to easily understand the process of carbon
offsetting and participate in it to get the desirable results in a timely manner. As of now just
under 18% of carbon dioxide emission growth over 2020 levels will be covered by this scheme
and after the completion of voluntary phase in 2026 the mandatory phase will see inclusion of
more states to ensure minimization of negative environmental impact in the international aviation
sector.
The regulations implemented by the international civil aviation organization require all
aircraft operators by first January of 2019 with emissions greater than 10,000 tonnes of carbon
dioxide to report their emotions to their national authority on an annual basis. In order to ensure
that accurate data is being presented by individual flight operators annual emissions report
provided by each operator will be verified by an independent third party verification body prior
to submission. After this government of different participating states will work with the
international Civil Aviation organization to inform airline of the numbers of offset credits they
need to purchase (Liao, Fan and Wang, 2022). These regulations are put in place in order to
ensure that a systematic way of following carbon offsetting and reduction scheme for
international aviation so that the goals of reaching negativity by 2050 are achieved in a timely
manner.
The international Civil Aviation organization also released a detailed requirement
document for monitoring reporting and verification of emissions as a part of Chicago convention
in 2018. These rules ensure that the scheme is being followed by major individual flight of
Reuters across the world and there is no scope for false reporting so that carbon emission
reduction is achieved. The international Civil Aviation organization has also conducted a
seminar on carbon offsetting and reduction scheme for international aviation which provides
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monitoring reporting and verification system information four different participants in the
scheme.
According to the international Civil Aviation organization, all member states whose
aircraft operator undertakes international flights I require to develop the necessary arrangement
in accordance with monitoring reporting verification system for implementation from 1st of
January 2019. This methodology needs to be developed to ensure that an aircraft operators of
setting requirements under the scheme in a given year can be reduced the use of sustainable
alternative fuels so that all elements of the basket measures are reflected by the individual
aircraft operators (Jeon, Yoo and Yoo, 2021).
The purpose of monitoring reporting and verification of carbon dioxide emissions by
individual flight operators is to collect data on international aviation carbon dioxide emissions on
an annual basis and compare a mission against the baseline emissions of time period 2019 and
2020. This provides the scope for all international flights to implement carbon offsetting and
reduction scheme in an effective manner. The components for monitoring reporting and
verification system include monitoring the usage of fossil fuel on each flight and calculation of
carbon dioxide emissions. This means that 110 of fuel burn equals 23.16 tonnes of carbon
dioxide emissions (Higham, Ellis and Maclaurin, 2019).
In addition to this the next component of monitoring reporting and verification system
under the carbon offsetting reduction scheme is reporting of emission information between
aircraft operator States and international Civil Aviation organization. Finally the last component
is verification of reported emissions data to ensure completeness and to avoid mistreatment of
the scheme. The recommendations provided by the international Civil Aviation organization in
context of monitoring reporting and verification include all international flight operators need to
make sure that each international flight is attributed to a single aircraft operator.
In addition to this flight plan is used for attribution of flights to operators and there is also
flexibility for aircraft operator to choose an appropriate method to estimate their carbon dioxide
emission. for example in context of large operators fuel monitoring methods can be based on
actual fuel burn why for small operators emissions estimation methods such as the international
Civil Aviation organizational tool can be used for simplified procedure. The recommendations
regulations and reporting measures provided by the international Civil Aviation organization will
support effective implementation and compliance of the carbon offsetting and reduction scheme
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by all the participants individual aircraft operators and member states so that the goal of reaching
carbon net neutrality can be achieved by the year 2050.
Critical Reflection
The carbon offsetting and reduction scheme for international aviation will be able to achieve the
complex task of bringing together different stakeholders of the international aviation sector to
work together for reducing their carbon emissions so that the entire international aviation market
can be changed to become more sustainable (Fageda and Teixidó, 2022). This will have
significant impact on practise and policy in the aviation industry along with academic research
related to sustainability in the aviation industry. The implementation of carbon offsetting and
reduction scheme for international aviation will create a market where international flight
operators are motivated and encouraged towards reducing their negative environmental impact.
International freight operators along with different countries and states who engage in
international air travel and constitute of large percentage of international air travel will invest in
try sustainable fuels instead of petroleum derived jet fuels because it will lower their carbon
emissions and there requirements for offsetting carbon emission will also reduce. This will
impact the policies in different countries who are highly dependent on international air travel
because they will make policies for ensuring that international air travel is moving towards a
sustainable direction (Efthymiou and Papatheodorou, 2019). This includes promoting the usage
of sustainability jet fuels and supporting international flight operators who invest in
technological advancement for sustainability of their international flights.
The positive impact of carbon offsetting and reduction scheme for international aviation
on aviation policies is that it will make room for more sustainable policies in the international
aviation industry. This is because businesses will focus on increasing their sustainability so that
their expenditure for offsetting specific carbon emission requirements is lowered and they’re able
to attain more profitability. Another positive impact in context of aviation policy is that it will
make aviation policy more strict towards businesses who have adopted unsustainable practices
and are not investing in improving sustainable technology in the aviation industry. This will be
done in order to encourage more independent flight operators as well as international flight
operators to work with international Civil Aviation organization to lower their carbon emissions
and support different sustainability projects and programs.
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