"A U.N. body has eased a greenhouse gas reduction plan at the urging of the airline industry, which cited the coronavirus’ financial damage as an obstacle to achieving the plan’s intended targets.

The Montreal-based International Civil Aviation Organization’s 36-nation council agreed to make 2019 the sole baseline year for the Carbon Offsetting and Reduction Scheme for International Aviation, or CORSIA, at a meeting on Tuesday.

The program, which takes effect next year, originally included 2020 as a baseline. But the steep drop in airlines emissions this year when the coronavirus virtually halted some travel would mean airlines would have to offset more emissions under the program, creating an inappropriate economic burden, the organization said in a news release."

James Munson reports for Bloomberg Environment June 30, 2020. [2]