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Coronavirus may toughen airlines’ goals for curbing emissions in 2020s

(Climate Home News, 17 Mar 2020) The coronavirus outbreak has sent the aviation industry reeling from one of its biggest economic shocks in recent years.

But the virus is also putting the finger on one of the industry’s most difficult challenges: curbing the sector’s increasing greenhouse gas emissions from a baseline of 2019 and 2020.

As part of goals to limit emissions, members of the International Civil Aviation Organisation (Icao), the UN body responsible for aviation, have agreed an “aspirational goal” to make all growth in international flights after 2020 carbon neutral.

Under the plan, countries have agreed to use a market-based offset mechanism known as Corsia to mitigate emissions from flying. Offsets are the primary tool to curb the sector’s emissions with alternative fuels and energy efficiency technologies not developed at scale.

The resolution to establish Corsia adopted in 2016 states that the sector’s growth should be offset compared with a baseline of average total emissions for 2019 and 2020.

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Climate Home News, 17 Mar 2020: Coronavirus may toughen airlines’ goals for curbing emissions in 2020s