International declaration denounces ICAO offset plan

September 29, 2016

Aviation is one of the industries with the fastest growing emissions: Their own industry association expects emissions to increase by between 300-700 per cent by 2050.
From 27 September to 06 October, the aviation industry and the UN body, ICAO, that should be regulating these industries, are meeting in Montreal, Canada. Among others, they plan to adopt an “action plan” that would sanction this huge growth in emissions caused by the small part of the global population that regularly uses aeroplanes through airlines purchasing carbon credits and making the false claim that these credits will offset the damage flying does to the climate.

WRM is among the 90 organisations that stand together to denounce these plans by the aviation industry to offset instead of reduce its emissions. The statement calls on ICAO to reduce emissions now and reject the proposal to buy carbon offsets, particularly from REDD+-type projects, because carbon credits are a bad deal for the climate, forests and forest peoples.

The 2015 WRM report REDD: A Collection of Conflicts, Contradictions and Lies shows why REDD+ offsets are a threat to forests and forest peoples' rights: They falsely blame peasants and indigenous peoples for deforestation, calling them "agents of deforestation" while not a single one of the projects reviewed tried to stop the large-scale deforestation caused by corporations in the logging, agribusiness and global food, mining and infrastructure industries.

One of the REDD+-projects reviewed in the REDD Collection of Conflicts is the Holistic Conservation Programme for Forests Madagascar. The project is implemented by WWF who have received financial support from French airline Air France. Community members say that "There is no compensation, only penalties to pay”.

Air France celebrates the project as a contribution to tackling climate change – and a supplier of carbon credits. It is carbon credits from projects like this and many other REDD+ projects that have caused misery and hardship for local communities that live with and from the forest that the aviation industry is wanting to use to avoid reducing its own emissions. Tell ICAO the aviation industry must reduce and not offset, and that REDD+ is a bad deal for forests, forest peoples and the climate.

Download here the International Civil Society Statement as pdf: – Aviation industry plan to offset emissions will push global warming beyond 1.5° Celsius.

For information on Global Action Days Against Airport Expansion, with protests against expansion of airports in Mexico, Turkey, France, the UK and Austria, click here.