Decision 2020/954 - EU position within the International Civil Aviation Organization as regards the notification of voluntary participation in the Carbon Offsetting and Reduction Scheme for International Aviation (CORSIA) from 1 January 2021 and the option selected for calculating aeroplane operators’ offsetting requirements during the 2021-2023 period - Main contents

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

L 212/14

The Chicago Convention on International Civil Aviation (‘the Chicago Convention’) entered into force on 4 April 1947. It established the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) and aims to regulate international air transport.

All Member States of the Union are contracting States of the Chicago Convention and members of the ICAO, whereas the Union has observer status in certain ICAO bodies.

In December 2015, the 21st Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change adopted the Paris Agreement (1). The objectives of the Paris Agreement include holding the increase in the global average temperature to well below 2 °C above pre-industrial levels and pursuing efforts to limit temperature increase to 1,5 °C above pre-industrial levels. All sectors of the economy should contribute to achieving emission reductions, including international aviation.

In 2016, by means of its Resolution A39-3, the 39th ICAO Assembly decided to implement a global market-based measure scheme in the form of the Carbon Offsetting and Reduction Scheme for International Aviation (CORSIA) to limit greenhouse gas emissions from international aviation at their 2020 levels. The Union position in respect of the elaboration and adoption of that scheme and its various detailed elements has been established by Council Decision (EU) 2016/915 (2).

On 27 June 2018, at the tenth meeting of its 214th session, the ICAO Council adopted the First Edition of Annex 16, Volume IV to the Chicago Convention: Carbon Offsetting and Reduction Scheme for International Aviation (CORSIA) (‘Annex 16, Volume IV’).

In 2017, Regulation (EU) 2017/2392 of the European Parliament and of the Council (3) amended Directive 2003/87/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council (4). One of the purposes of that Regulation was to prepare for the implementation of CORSIA from 2021, to lay down requirements under Union law for the monitoring, reporting and verification for the purpose of CORSIA, and reporting on and the review of the implementation of CORSIA.

The rules contained in Annex 16, Volume IV are to become binding in accordance with, and within the limits set out in, the Chicago Convention. Those rules are also to become binding upon the Union and its Member States under existing international air transport agreements.

In order for ICAO to take full account of the current legal framework at Union level, differences have been notified by the Member States in accordance with Council Decision (EU) 2018/2027 (5). Under Decision (EU) 2018/2027, Directive 2003/87/EC, as it currently stands, applies irrespective of the nationality of the aeroplane operator and in principle covers flights which depart from or arrive in an aerodrome situated in the territory of a Member State to which the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (‘TFEU’) applies. Directive 2003/87/EC applies without distinction to flights within and between Member States and/or...