EU-SOUTH EAST ASIA CCCA CORSIA PROJECT — consult this link for project background information and a summary of its achievements

The European Union is strongly committed to ensuring sustainable air transport both within Europe and worldwide. To achieve this, the EU has launched several initiatives in different areas to support partner states in meeting shared environmental goals. One such initiative was the EU-South East Asia Cooperation on Mitigating Climate Change Impact from Civil Aviation (EU-SEA CCCA) CORSIA[1] project. Funded by the European Union (EU) and implemented by the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA), the project ran from 2019 to 2023.

The specific objectives (outcomes) of the EU-SEA CCCA CORSIA were the following:
 

• enhance political, economic and environmental partnership between the EU and partner countries in South East Asia in the areas of civil aviation environmental protection and climate change
• develop or support existing policy dialogues with partner countries in SEA on mitigating Green House Gas (GHG) emissions from civil aviation.
• Contribute to the 'CORSIA readiness' processes of partner countries in SEA to implement CORSIA in line with the agreed international schedule and voluntary participation to the scheme at the earliest time possible
   

ASEAN has a combined population of approximately 625 million people, representing 8.8% of the world's population. Air travel to, from, and within the region is projected to grow at an average annual rate of 6.6% over the next 20 years, driven by passenger demand stimulated by low-cost carriers with low fares and new routes.
The project's partner countries included the ten ASEAN member states: Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam.
To maximize impact and ensure the connectivity of its actions in the region, the EU-SEA CCCA CORSIA Project coordinated its efforts with other projects and regional initiatives, such as the EU-SEA APP, the ARISE Plus Civil Aviation Project, and the ASEAN Secretariat.

The programme's achievements were designed to have a lasting impact on the ASEAN member states, extending beyond the duration of the EU-SEA CCCA project itself.

 

Main Achievements

The EU-SEA CCCA CORSIA Project successfully achieved its objectives through the following accomplishments:

The project supported various areas of action, achieving four collective approaches or practices that were harmonised and integrated across the 10 ASEAN member states.
The project has supported different areas of action achieving four collective approaches or practice harmonised and integrated in the 10 ASEAN member states.

These are:

• The bilateral support of the project to the ASEAN Member States facilitated all ASEAN Member States, except of Myanmar, to submit a first or subsequent improved edition of the State Action Plan (SAP) for CO2 emission reductions.
• Through the greater awareness on climate change action in civil aviation, enabled by project activities with ASEAN Member States, the project contributed to the adoption of a common position by all ASEAN Member States at the 41^st ICAO Assembly on the policy for Long-Term Aspirational Goal.
• An increased awareness and technical capacitation of the ASEAN Member States supported by Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) related activities of the project (e.g. SAF Webinars and SAF Workshops), brought the States participating in the CAAF#3 to a supportive position for ICAO’s Global SAF Framework and the vision to achieve 5% CO2 reduction from the use of Sustainable Aviation Fuels, Low Carbon Aviation Fuels and other renewable energy sources in international aviation
• The increased awareness supported by the project on climate change impact from civil aviation and the needed reduction initiatives among the ASEAN Member States, led to the greater consideration of sustainable aviation and has decisively contributed to the launch of the ASEAN Sustainable Aviation Action Plan (ASAAP)
   

• All ASEAN Member State participated in the Conference on Aviation Alternative fuels (CAAF#3), supported the ICAO Global Sustainable Aviation Fuels (SAF) Framework and the vision therein stated.
• All ASEAN Member Stated submitted their CORSIA Emission Reports consistently to ICAO
• 6 out of the 10 ASEAN Member States committed to the voluntary phase of CORSIA
• 7 ASEAN Member States established their CORSIA accreditation process and 1 Member State its Greenhouse Gases (GHG) Emission Scheme
• ASEAN Member States explored additional policies on climate change action through the support of the project, such as, the development of a domestic emissions reporting scheme following the CORSIA-Monitoring Reporting and Verification (MRV) process in the Philippines, the potential for local production of Sustainable Aviation Fuels in Malaysia, Indonesia, Philippines, Brunei and Vietnam, and the roll-out of Environmental Management Systems in the airports network in Philippines and Indonesia.
• The ASEAN Air Transport Working Group launched the ASEAN Sustainable Aviation Action Plan (ASAAP)

Find out more details on activities (by country)

Since September 2019, the project has supported the following countries bilaterally with the following results:

In addition, the project has organised or supported various ASEAN wide initiatives, directly contributing to improved content of State Action Plans of all ASEAN Member States and to explore new sustainability topics:

• All 10 ASEAN Member State submitted their Emission Reports consistently to ICAO; 6 of them established accreditation processes and accredited local Verification Bodies. The support provided facilitated the sign up of Cambodia to CORSIA – Vietnam and Brunei are expected to take similar decision in 2024 (to be confirmed).
• The support through a combination of various activities, such as the organisation of dedicated workshops, capacity building, participation to Working Groups, CORSIA accreditation process support for Verification Bodies (VB’s), implementation of Aviation Emission Data Management Systems (AeDMS), etc. facilitated developing the processes and technical skills in the ASEAN MS in both the State Authorities but also in the Aeroplane Operators to confidently implement the CORSIA Monitoring Reporting and Verification Processes (MRV).
• All ASEAN Member States, except of Myanmar due to political instability in the country, submitted a first or a subsequent improved edition of the State Action Plan (SAP) for CO2 emission reductions to ICAO
• All ASEAN Member States adopted a common supporting position at 41st ICAO Assembly on the resolution towards the Long-Term Aspirational Goal of net-zero.

Special Feature: Sustainable Aviation Fuels Webinars
 

Looking back the project team is thankful and proud that the project’s series of 17 Sustainable Aviation Fuels Webinars  attracted more than 1500 participants.

Over 25 different experts around the whole SAF value chain shared their experience on the upscale of SAF and actively exchanged with the audience on how to best address the challenges.  

​We would like to thank all guest speakers and our loyal audience for your participation and active engagement during the sessions.

The Webinars recordings are available on Youtube.