ICAO releases list of Technical Advisory Body members who will recommend eligible offsets for CORSIA
Thu 28 Mar 2019 – ICAO has released the list of members appointed to the Technical Advisory Body (TAB) that will assess emissions units programmes for eligibility under the UN agency’s Carbon Offsetting and Reduction Scheme for International Aviation (CORSIA). The TAB, which will provide recommendations on eligibility to ICAO’s governing 36-State Council for decision, is made up of 19 members that the Council has agreed meet the required technical expertise and balanced geographical representation. Around 40 candidates had been nominated for membership by 34 countries. Among the members are two former chairmen of the UNFCCC’s CDM Executive Board and others with experience of carbon markets and UN negotiations. An early task of the TAB will be to discuss and provide recommendations on the vintage of eligible units.
The two former chairmen of the CDM Executive Board are Peer Stiansen of Norway and José Domingos Miguez of Brazil. The CDM Executive Board supervises the Kyoto Protocol’s clean development mechanism and the registration of projects and issuance of CDM CERs (Certified Emission Reductions).
Both Stiansen and Miguez have also represented their countries in UN climate change negotiations, as have Ulrika Raab (Sweden), Dimitar Nikov (France), Molly Peters-Stanley (United States) and Rajani Ranjan Rashmi (India). Others on the TAB are climate change or carbon market specialists from governments, research and academia.
Members are expected to serve a minimum of three years in accordance with each CORSIA compliance cycle and a Chairperson and Vice-Chairperson will be appointed who will hold their posts on a renewable one-year basis. It is possible that up to four new members could be added over time to the body if felt necessary by the Council.
Early consideration of the emissions unit vintage issue by the TAB is likely although this may require analysis and input from ICAO’s environmental technical committee CAEP. It is understood the Council may hold an informal briefing on the implications of introducing a possible vintage and a timeframe during the preliminary Committee phase of the next 217th Session in late April or early May. Council members are divided on whether an early decision should be made or whether to wait while further assessments of offset programmes are undertaken.
The full list of TAB members, which is now posted on the ICAO CORSIA website, is as follows:
