Source · Select Committees · Environmental Audit Committee
Recommendation 26
26
Accepted
Aviation emissions offsetting mechanisms offer only a temporary, stopgap solution.
Conclusion
Offsetting mechanisms, such as CORSIA, may provide an interim step towards contributing to the removal from the atmosphere of the emissions attributable to UK aviation. We commend the Government on the work it has already undertaken at international level to secure an agreement on an international offsetting mechanism. More remains to be done, and the use of offsets to address aviation emissions is at best a stopgap measure until more effective and high-quality technologies to achieve permanent greenhouse gas removals are available. (Paragraph 161) 54 Net zero and the UK aviation sector Closing the aviation emissions gap
Government Response Summary
The government agrees with the committee's observation, detailing its leading role in the ICAO CAAF/3 agreement for a 5% global aviation fuel emissions reduction target by 2030, which enshrined the CORSIA sustainability approach for SAF as a comprehensive international standard.
Government Response
Accepted
HM Government
Accepted
The Government agrees with this recommendation. In November 2023 agreement was reached at ICAO’s Third Conference on Aviation Alternative Fuels (CAAF/3) on a target to reduce emissions from global aviation fuel by 5% by 2030, as part of a comprehensive framework to scale-up production and deployment of cleaner aviation fuels. The UK took a leading role in working for this agreement and intends to continue to be a global leader in aviation decarbonisation and the production and use of SAF. Importantly, the agreement enshrined the sustainability approach from the Carbon Offsetting and Reduction Scheme for International Aviation as the basis for determining the sustainability of SAF used in international aviation. International Civil Aviation Organization adopted the first comprehensive global approach for ensuring the sustainability of SAF, as part of CORSIA in November 2021. The CORSIA sustainability approach measures SAF against 14 environmental and socio-economic sustainability criteria. It also includes a globally agreed lifecycle analysis methodology, feedstock classification and accounts for indirect land-use change (ILUC). The approach is the product of many years of technical work in ICAO to develop an internationally agreed sustainability standard for SAF, in which the UK has played a leading role. While it is different to the standards we have in the UK, the government believes it is a comprehensive and robust basis for determining SAF sustainability internationally. It is referenced in international law under Annex 16, Volume IV of the Chicago Convention on International Civil Aviation. The UK continues to negotiate through ICAO groups and forums to further bolster and strengthen the CORSIA sustainability framework, to ensure global SAF production delivers genuine GHG savings and minimises the risk of other negative impacts.