The minute
- Japan Airlines signed a carbon removal agreement with Climeworks Solutions for credits designed to meet ICAO’s CORSIA requirements, described by the companies as the world’s first such purchase agreement.
- Climeworks Solutions will source a portfolio of removal credits spanning soil carbon sequestration and biochar, while JAL will separately purchase Direct Air Capture credits from Climeworks.
- JAL was already among the early airlines to retire large volumes of CORSIA-eligible credits; this agreement extends that activity specifically into carbon dioxide removal.
Why it matters: Until now, corporate demand for carbon removal has come almost entirely through voluntary climate commitments. Moving removal credits into a compliance framework like CORSIA creates a fundamentally different demand signal: one driven by regulatory obligation rather than discretionary pledges. If CORSIA-compliant removals scale beyond pilot transactions, international aviation could become the first sector to bridge the voluntary carbon removal market and regulated climate finance, reshaping how removal projects are financed, verified and priced.
What remains undecided, and what needs to happen next
The deal is described as a pilot, and several structural questions remain open. ICAO has not yet published a final, comprehensive list of carbon dioxide removal methodologies that qualify as CORSIA Eligible Emissions Units. The current framework accepts certain offset categories, but the inclusion criteria for newer removal pathways (biochar, enhanced weathering, direct air capture with geological storage) are still under review or subject to future methodology approvals. Whether soil carbon sequestration credits can meet CORSIA’s durability and measurement standards at scale is an unresolved technical question, given well-documented challenges around permanence and reversal risk in soil-based storage.
There is also the matter of pricing. Voluntary market prices for high-quality carbon removal vary widely, with DAC credits trading at levels far above conventional offsets. For CORSIA compliance to generate meaningful demand, the cost of removal credits will need to be manageable relative to airlines’ compliance budgets, or regulators will need to create incentives that close the gap. How ICAO and national regulators handle the interplay between removal credits and Sustainable Aviation Fuel mandates will shape airline procurement strategies in the years ahead.
Who gains and who loses
Removal technology developers, particularly those working on engineered pathways like DAC, stand to gain a new class of institutional buyers with recurring compliance needs. Companies like Climeworks, which already operates DAC facilities, benefit from demand visibility that can support financing for future capacity. Nature-based removal project developers working on biochar or soil carbon could also access aviation compliance budgets, provided their methodologies clear ICAO’s eligibility bar.
Traditional offset providers face a more complex picture. If CORSIA shifts airline purchasing toward removal credits and away from conventional avoidance-based offsets (such as avoided deforestation or renewable energy certificates), project developers concentrated in those categories could see demand erode over time. Airlines themselves face higher per-unit costs for removal credits compared to legacy offsets, which creates a compliance cost pressure, especially for carriers operating on thin margins in competitive international routes.
What this means for Brazilian airlines and the Brazilian carbon market
Brazil’s airlines operating international routes are subject to CORSIA. LATAM Airlines, Gol and Azul all fly routes covered by the scheme’s monitoring and offsetting requirements. As CORSIA phases tighten (the mandatory phase begins in 2027 for a broader set of state pairs), Brazilian carriers will need to procure eligible credits. If removal credits become a recognized and eventually expected component of CORSIA compliance, Brazilian airlines will face the same procurement decisions JAL is testing now.
Brazil has a large domestic carbon market discussion underway. The regulated carbon market bill (PL 182/2024 in the Senate) is advancing but has not yet established final rules for which credit types qualify or how international aviation obligations interact with domestic market mechanisms. Brazil is also one of the world’s largest producers of biochar feedstock and has significant potential for soil carbon projects in degraded agricultural land. In theory, Brazilian removal projects could supply CORSIA-eligible credits, but only if ICAO approves the relevant methodologies and Brazilian developers invest in the measurement, reporting and verification infrastructure required. The data on how many CORSIA-eligible removal credits could realistically originate from Brazilian projects is not yet available; this gap deserves attention from both regulators and project developers.
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