INSIDE COMPLIANCE

A sky suffocating with carbon must still carry the metal weight of its inhabitants. Every day, more than 100,000 planes release carbon emissions. A solution for this strain on the environment was to build the first market-based compliance framework, holding airlines accountable for any excessive emissions they produced. This framework is the Carbon Offsetting and Reduction Scheme for International Aviation (CORSIA), which is administered by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO). 

On paper, CORSIA fueled optimism that international environmental accountability for aviation was possible. Airlines were to monitor and report their emissions, and those exceeding an agreed baseline would be required to purchase carbon credits that finance emission reductions elsewhere. In practice, its design provides transgressors with ample room to participate in name while limiting what they actually owe. Through voluntary participation, easy withdrawal, filed differences, and state-by-state enforcement, countries have found ways to stay inside the framework while keeping much of their aviation footprint outside it. CORSIA’s shortcomings expose how weak international environmental accountability remains, leaving aviation emissions free to fly under the radar.