Capacity building for CO2 mitigation from international aviation in Africa and the Caribbean

EU-CORSIA online workshop on monitoring, reporting and verification methodologies and data collection tools 

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21-23 September 2021

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On 21, 22 and 23 September, the second regional workshop of 2021 was held as part of the CORSIA project.

This was the first workshop with the participation of partner countries from sub-Saharan Africa. The first online event, held on 19 and 20 July, was attended by partner states of the Caribbean only.

The CORSIA Africa and Caribbean project is a 5,000,000 Euro project funded by the European Commission specifically supporting the implementation of the ICAO Carbon Offsetting and Reduction Scheme for International Aviation (CORSIA) in the Sub-Saharan Africa and the Caribbean region (and supporting the dialogue with and among the partner states on mitigating Green House Gas (GHG) emissions from civil aviation.

This project complements and integrates the activities that the European Union and EASA as implementing partner, are undertaking in other regions to address the implementation of the ICAO CORSIA scheme: South East Asia and Latin America among them.

The workshop was addressed to environmental experts and in particular experts of the CORSIA scheme in the partner state authorities and in the Regional Safety Oversight Organisations.

The ICAO EUR NAT and WACAF Environmental officer attended the workshop and the ICAO WACAF Regional Director expressed the interest of the ICAO region in the project and the willingness to coordinate in the future to ensure participation.

Experts from 24 countries (Angola, Antigua and Barbuda, Botswana, Cameroon, Cabo Verde, Côte d’Ivoire, Dominican Republic, Gabon, Jamaica, Kenya, Madagascar, Mali, Namibia, Nigeria, Senegal, Somalia, South Africa, Suriname, Tanzania, Trinidad and Tobago, Uganda, Zambia) attended the 3-day sessions, which alternated between plenary sessions and separate sessions for smaller groups.

The workshop focused on emission monitoring, reporting methodologies and data collection tools. It also intended to foster a culture of active cooperation and information sharing among the partner states and the EU states. 

The representative of the project’s funder, Directorate General for International Partnership of the European Commission (DG INTPA), Mr Vincent Picard, opened the workshop, followed by the representative of the Directorate General for Mobility and Transport (DG MOVE), Mr Jorge Pinto, and by the representative of the Directorate General for Climate Action, (DG CLIMA) Mr Dimitar Nikov.

In their speeches, the EC representatives illustrated how the activities that the European Union is undertaking to reduce the GHG emissions for civil aviation fall in the wider context of achieving the EU 2030 climate target, which is to reduce the European-wide GHG emissions by at least the 55% compared to the 1990 levels. The representative of DG CLIMA illustrated how the EU is implementing CORSIA through the EU Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) directive for extra European flights and for EU-based airlines, for flights to/from third countries participating in CORSIA.

The Secretary General of the Latin American Civil Aviation Commission (LACAC), Mr Jaimie Binder, highlighted the important historical moment that the world is living todays in combatting the climate change and recalled the efforts done by the LACAC to raise awareness on this challenge among the member states. This resulted in an almost total participation of the Caribbean states to the voluntary phase of CORSIA. Mr Binder expressed the willingness of LACAC and its member states to cooperate with EASA in this project.

The Director of Air Transport of the African Civil Aviation Commission (AFCAC), Ms Angeline Simana expressed gratitude to the European Commission and EASA for the organisation of the workshop that is critical both for the states that are voluntarily participating in CORSIA and for those that have not joined yet. She welcomed the initiative as one measure to increase the number of participating states. Ms Simana emphasized AFCAC’s appreciation towards the cooperation with EASA to promote environmental sustainability and to develop the aviation industry in Africa.

The AFCAC contribution was complemented by a presentation offered by the AFCAC Environmental Expert, Mr Frankline Omondi, on the activities and initiatives that AFCAC is carrying out in the Environment field, including CORSIA. Mr Omondi expressed a proposal to conduct joint activities in this field with EASA. The project team welcomed the invitation and looks forward to starting the join organisation of such events.

The recently appointed International Cooperation Head of Department in EASA, Mr Thomas Mickler expressed gratitude for the active participation of LACAC, AFCAC, CASSOA, CASSOS, CANSO, ECCAA, and BAGAIA at the workshop as well as for the availability of some European authorities for bringing their contribution and sharing their experience. The manager of the International Cooperation section for Africa and America, Ms Carla Iorio concluded the opening session and welcomed the Head of Department in his first event in the new capacity.

Experts from SENASA Spain, ENAC Italy, and UBA Germany, together with the Director of the Department of Planning and Development of the Office of the Prime Minister of Somalia, shared their experiences and challenges encountered and expected in building the legal framework for CORSIA MRV implementation.

The representatives of the regional Safety oversight organisations: CASSOA, Mr Sylvester Sinarinzi, and CASSOS, Ms Cleonie Williams, intervened to illustrate the great efforts that the organisations are doing in the field of environment for civil aviation, in addition to their mandate which is first and foremost in the field of safety. This is to highlight how the two organisations are committed to contributing and supporting states in this field.

The technical part of the workshop took place in 3 virtual rooms where the experts have been divided according to their region (partner African states speaking English, African states speaking French and the Caribbean states). The three contracted project environmental experts, Mr Andreas Hardeman, Ms Monica Bonfanti and Ms Maria de la Rica, together with the EASA Environmental Expert, Mr Joonas Laukia, presented and stimulated the discussion on

• Monitoring, reporting and verification requirements,

• Use of monitoring plans under CORSIA and fuel monitoring methods

• Emission reporting

• Reporting with CERT

• CORSIA offsetting requirements and CORSIA eligible fuels (CEF).

Participants showed their commitment by raising questions, providing comments and feedback, sharing views on CORSIA implementation and the need to participate in the pilot phase on a voluntary basis. Interactive parts of the workshop programme, including a quiz and questions and answers sessions, were very well received by the participants. .

The workshop concluded with a presentation by Joonas Laukia on the next steps both from the ICAO CORSIA timeline and from the project perspectives.

The main outcomes of the 3 days of work together were:

• The increase of awareness of the national experts within the state authorities of the key role that state authorities play in the CORSIA implementation,

• The importance of having a consistent national legal framework in place as the pre-condition in engaging with aeroplane operators for CORSIA implementation,

• The common understanding that the project gives the opportunity to share best practices, ideas, challenges, and solutions among partner states and that therefore everyone can contribute,

• A better understanding of what will be the support of the EU through this project, and

• Sharing the opportunity to coordinate and combine the project activities with those of the AFCAC programme whenever possible.

The next activities will be to conduct:

• A readiness assessment, to tailor the activities according to the specific needs of partner states, and

• Group and bilateral activities on accreditation and verification process.

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Stay tuned!!

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