First large-scale CORSIA retirement of Gold Standard carbon credits by a commercial airline

The first large-scale retirement of Gold Standard carbon credits by a commercial airline for Phase 1 of the Carbon Offsetting and Reduction Scheme for International Aviation (CORSIA) has been completed, marking an important milestone in the implementation of the global aviation climate framework.

The first large-scale retirement of Gold Standard carbon credits by a commercial airline for Phase 1 of the Carbon Offsetting and Reduction Scheme for International Aviation (CORSIA) has been completed, marking an important milestone in the implementation of the global aviation climate framework.

A total of 180,000 Gold Standard carbon credits were retired by Shell, on behalf of Japan Airlines, to meet its obligations under Phase 1 of CORSIA. This follows a separate, smaller retirement by Skyservice Business Aviation in February. Together, these transactions show that airline compliance activity is now substantively underway.

The retired credits were sourced from two different CORSIA-eligible projects. 130,000 credits were retired from activities under the programme GS11677 Biomass Energy Conservation Programme in Malawi, developed by Hestian Innovation, which were the first Gold Standard projects to have carbon credits labelled as CORSIA eligible. A further 50,000 credits were retired from GS11732, Efficient and Clean Cooking for Households in Tanzania.

Both of these cookstove activities support communities’ access to cleaner cooking technologies, improving lives and livelihoods while reducing pressure on forests. In retiring these credits, airlines are channelling essential finance into projects that make a difference for communities and the environment on the ground.  

Further retirements are expected throughout 2026 and 2027 as airlines prepare to meet CORSIA’s Phase 1 compliance deadline in January 2028. At the time of this transaction, Gold Standard has labelled nearly two million credits as eligible for use under Phase 1, reflecting recent positive developments on the supply side and continued expansion of eligible volumes. 

“This retirement does more than reduce or remove 180,000 tonnes of emissions from the atmosphere. It reflects thousands of households getting access to reliable and efficient fuel, women reclaiming time previously spent tending fires, and families breathing cleaner air at home. Frameworks like CORSIA help channel climate finance to projects that change daily life in visible ways.”

Margaret Kim, Chief Executive Officer at Gold Standard.

“Shell is proud to support Japan Airlines in achieving this CORSIA milestone with high‑quality Gold Standard credits. As airlines advance their compliance efforts, we continue to draw on our global trading expertise and work with a portfolio of credible project developers to bring CORSIA‑Eligible Emissions Units to market.”

Nick Osborne, Vice President, Global Carbon and Environmental Products Trading at Shell.

Gold Standard continues to support projects seeking CORSIA eligibility and airlines in identifying eligible credits. The recently published step-by-step guide for Article 6 and CORSIA labelling sets out clearly how developers can receive CORSIA labels, including all of the relevant reporting processes under Article 6 of the Paris Agreement. Once credits are labelled as eligible, buyers can easily locate them using the relevant filters on the Gold Standard Impact Registry.