Novel insurance product adds credibility to aviation carbon scheme

The challenge

Gold Standard needed to establish a process to assess insurance solutions and approve these policies for CORSIA (Carbon Offsetting and Reduction Scheme for International Aviation). 

This was necessary for the client to gain approval from the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) to be able to issue credits eligible for CORSIA – and for project developers to support the scheme in the future. 

But the path was far from straightforward for the client, because: 

• Novelty of the insurance type made it difficult to establish criteria to assess third-party insurance policies. 
• Double counting was a key concern, where emissions reductions might be claimed by both the host country and the airline, undermining environmental integrity. 
• They lacked the specialist expertise and frameworks to confidently evaluate whether insurance solutions met the stringent requirements of international climate agreements.  

This was more than a technical hurdle. It was a reputational and compliance risk that could affect their approval process and the credibility of the entire carbon credit framework.  

Action

We stepped in to strategically address these challenges through: 

• A review of existing carbon and political risk insurance markets 
• Alignment with international climate frameworks, and mitigating double-counting risks 
• Designing and developing policy wordings through engagement and feedback with insurers  
• Developing assessment criteria for the approval process 
• Independent assessment of third-party insurance against defined criteria  
• A system that balances  credibility, consistency, and speed in decision-making 

This wasn’t about ticking boxes. It was about building a foundation of trust and integrity for climate finance.