Papua New Guinea has expressed interest to start a dialogue with Indonesia.
This is in terms of the level of engagement towards a bilateral partnership on the Carbon Offset Reduction Scheme for International Aviation (CORSIA).
During the International Senior Officials Meeting (ISOM) under APEC (Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation) last week in Port Moresby, the Climate Change and Development Authority (CCDA) was fortunate to coordinate and arrange the CEO (Chief Executive Officers) dialogue for the APEC 10th Transport Ministerial Meeting, during which ministerial discussions were held on the role of APEC economies in CORSIA.
CORSIA is set to start in 2021 with the pilot phase, where 13 out of 21 APEC economies, including PNG, will be the first participants.
Indonesia is one of the thirteen and its Minister for Transport supported CORSIA and openly invited APEC economies to partner with them on a bilateral level in the conclusion of its presentations on “green infrastructure” related to sustainable aviation.
The Indonesian Minister made a call to develop safe, secure, resilient, efficient and sustainable transportation systems and to promote innovation in the transportation sector, which includes aviation.
This partnership will further strengthen Indonesia and PNG’s economic commitment towards a responsible transport system and with CCDA being the focal point for Climate Change in PNG, it is happy to assist its implementing stakeholders, including the Department of Transport and Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA), prepare themselves in terms of addressing emissions from international aviation.
The Paris Agreement which PNG is a party to did not include international bunker fuels, which means airline industries in PNG should not be pressured by the International Air
Transport Association (IATA) and the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) to comply unless IATA and ICAO decide otherwise.
The Chicago Convention of 1949 is not a convention on climate change, rather a convention on civil aviation, which means PNG is obliged to align itself with the principles of the Chicago Convention as an ICAO member state.
This complements Section 7 of the Climate Change Management Act 2017 on international emissions from international shipping and international aviation as emissions not from PNG but from industries.
Carbon Offset Reduction Scheme for International Aviation (CORSIA) was adopted as part of a set of Assembly Resolutions in October 2016.
All APEC economies who are also members of ICAO, including some council members, all supported the adoption of these resolutions.
The implementation of CORSIA will be done in three phases;
- The voluntary phase (starts in 2021);
- The actual implementation phase (starts after 2030 which the CCDA will be coordinating how PNG and its aviation sectors will be participating while maintaining a registry that tracks these emissions. Countries that start early in 2021 will have progressive international guidance because they will be using experience to inform the future. Most of these are ICAO council members as well as APEC economies, including USA, Thailand, Singapore, Republic of Korea, PNG, New Zealand, Mexico, Malaysia, Japan, Indonesia, China, Canada and Australia;
- Phase three will take place after 2038.