Airlines required to report annual CO2 emissions from H2
Planes at Incheon International Airport are seen in this photo, Incheon, west of Seoul, Nov. 2, 2023. Yonhap
Korean airlines are required to report their annual carbon emissions to the government from later this year as lawmakers passed a related bill last week, the transport ministry said Monday.
On Thursday, the National Assembly passed the "international aviation emission bill" as part of efforts to comply with the Carbon Offsetting and Reduction Scheme for International Aviation (CORSIA), the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport said in a statement.
CORSIA, agreed in 2016 by member states of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), obliges most airlines to report their CO2 emissions from 2019 and to purchase emission reduction units generated by carbon projects in other sectors to compensate for any growth in the sector's emissions above 2019 levels from 2021.
Under the CORSIA agreement, which becomes mandatory from 2027, local carriers have reported their CO2 emissions to the ministry and the ICAO on an annual basis.
"The domestic emission law is aimed at imposing sanctions, including fines, on carriers which fail to maintain their CO2 emissions at 2019 levels," a ministry official said.
Airlines that own at least one airplane with the maximum take-off weight of 5.7 tons and with annual CO2 emissions of over 10,000 tons are subject to the CORSIA agreement as well as the local law, he explained.
There are eight carriers obliged to the law in Korea. They are Korean Air, Asiana Airlines, Jeju Air, Air Busan, Jin Air, T'way Air, Air Incheon, Air Seoul, the statement said.
In response to tighter emission rules, national flag carrier Korean Air adopted sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) for its cargo flights from September 2023 and Asiana Airlines signed an agreement with Shell to secure a supply of SAF from 2026.
Low-cost carriers are replacing old planes with fuel-efficient next-generation aircraft, such as the B737-8 and the A321neo jets.
The local emission law is expected to take effect in August after approval at a Cabinet meeting, the official said. (Yonhap)