Aviation can’t offset its way to net zero. Everyone agrees on that. But the reality is equally stark: aviation can’t achieve net zero by 2050 without some form of carbon removal or offsetting filling the residual emissions gap.
The question isn’t whether to use carbon markets, it’s how to use them strategically, credibly, and without derailing progress on actual emissions reduction.
At SSWS 2026, we’re building a practical roadmap:
The carbon removal conversation is plagued by confusion: Should airlines buy engineered removals (DAC) or nature-based solutions? What counts as “permanent”? How do CORSIA-eligible credits differ from emission trading schemes or voluntary carbon markets? Why is there suddenly a supply shortage when we were promised abundant credits? How can support for permanent removals support and not undermine SAF investment and production?
We’re cutting through the complexity with a phased approach:
- IMMEDIATE (2026-2030): Making CORSIA Credits and emission trading scheme allowances work
– Understanding why CORSIA credit supply is severely constrained despite earlier projections, and when this may change
– Review plans to update the UK and EU emission trading schemes’ use of carbon removals
– Paris Agreement NDC complications that are blocking supply
– Price surge predictions and what happens if the market fails
– How Technical Advisory Board approval criteria actually work
– Strategic credit procurement before the 2027 deadline rush
- MEDIUM-TERM (2030-2035): Nature-Based Removals at Scale
– Moving beyond sketchy forestry credits to credible, permanent nature-based solutions
– Understanding additionality, leakage, and permanence criteria
– Why “removals are the PTL of offsets”—essential long-term, but immature today
- LONG-TERM (2035-2050): Engineered Removals
– Direct Air Capture (DAC), BECCS, and other technologies
– Investment requirements vs. available capital
– Policy frameworks needed to make engineered removals viable
Featured perspectives:
- Investment Reality Check: How Standard Chartered and other banks are structuring GGR (Greenhouse Gas Removal) financing deals—lessons from BA’s groundbreaking transaction
- Jet Zero Task Force Insights: UK government perspective on carbon removal policy and aviation’s role in developing the market
- The Permanence Debate: Technical and policy perspectives on what actually qualifies as permanent carbon removal
- Credit Market Dynamics: Why supply shortages are driving prices up and what airlines should do now
The honest conversation:
Carbon markets are imperfect. Some credits are genuinely problematic. But dismissing them entirely leaves aviation with an unbridgeable gap to net zero. We’re examining how to use carbon removal strategically—not as a substitute for action, but as a necessary complement to SAF, efficiency improvements, and fleet renewal.
This isn’t greenwashing. It’s pragmatism.
