Credits from the Standard for the Transformation of the Electric Power Sector (STEPS) are eligible for CORSIA, marking the first eligible jurisdictional credits beyond REDD+
LITTLE ROCK, Ark.—Internationally recognized carbon crediting program ACR, a nonprofit enterprise of Winrock International, announces the finding of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) that units generated under the Standard for the Transformation of the Electric Power Sector (STEPS) are consistent with ACR’s existing ICAO approval, thus extending the scope of eligibility of ACR-issued credits for compliance under the Carbon Offsetting and Reduction Scheme for International Aviation (CORSIA) to include STEPS Credits. This is significant as it marks the first CORSIA Eligibility determination of a sectoral carbon crediting approach beyond the landmark approval of jurisdictional REDD+ in 2020. ACR will manage the implementation of STEPS alongside ACR’s existing project-based crediting program, which focuses on forestry, super pollutants and CCS.
STEPS is a first-of-a-kind jurisdictional-scale, sector-wide carbon crediting standard that aims to incentivize host country investment, planning and policies to deliver long-term structural changes necessary for electric power sector emissions to peak sooner and decline faster to meet Paris Agreement temperature targets. STEPS’ goal is to catalyze large-scale investment needed to achieve the clean energy transition, while ensuring energy equity and energy security.
The CORSIA Eligibility of STEPS Credits signals an important milestone for ICAO’s global compliance carbon market to support accelerating the energy transition. The International Energy Agency (IEA) indicates that clean energy investment in developing and emerging economies, excluding China, must increase seven-fold to $1.9 trillion a year by the early 2030s to keep a 1.5°C limit on warming within reach and avert catastrophic climate impacts on communities worldwide.
“We applaud the news that ACR’s scope of CORSIA Eligible credits now includes STEPS Credits, as consistent with ICAO’s Emissions Unit Criteria,” said Mary Grady, Executive Director of ACR. “The energy transition is a massive emissions mitigation opportunity that requires access to finance at scale to deliver Paris Agreement-aligned results. Sector-level crediting can mobilize capital at the scale needed to support investments in grid expansion and storage infrastructure, as well as concessionary finance to address the needs of communities and workers affected by the transition from fossil fuels. We look forward to working with governments to implement STEPS and are encouraged that ACR is able to advance the potential to attract critical climate finance to meet the challenges of power sector decarbonization while ensuring economic development, energy security and energy access.”
ICAO is a specialized agency of the United Nations that manages the standards that govern international aviation. In 2016 ICAO approved CORSIA as a global market-based mechanism to achieve carbon-neutral growth in international aviation starting in 2020. ACR is among the ten global carbon crediting programs approved by ICAO to supply offset credits for CORSIA’s 2024-2026 phase and among only four currently approved to supply credits for the 2027-2029 phase.