[Federal Register Volume 88, Number 16 (Wednesday, January 25, 2023)]
[Notices]
[Pages 4878-4880]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2023-01405]


=======================================================================
-----------------------------------------------------------------------

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

Federal Aviation Administration

[Docket No. FAA-2022-1711]


Agency Information Collection Activities: Requests for Comments; 
Clearance of Renewed Approval of Information Collection: Carbon 
Offsetting and Reduction Scheme for International Aviation (CORSIA) 
Monitoring, Reporting, and Verification (MRV) Program

AGENCY: Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), DOT.

[[Page 4879]]


ACTION: Notice and request for comments.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

SUMMARY: In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, FAA 
invites public comments about our intention to request Office of 
Management and Budget (OMB) approval to renew an information 
collection. The collection involves a request that airplane operators 
subject to the applicability of Annex 16, Volume IV of the Convention 
on Civil Aviation (hereinafter the ``Chicago Convention'') submit 
electronically an Emissions Monitoring Plan (EMP), an annual Emissions 
Report (ER) to the FAA. Airplane operators may also submit an optional 
ER CORSIA Eligible Fuels Annex (CEFA) to the FAA if they want to 
receive credit for their use of CORSIA Eligible Sustainable Aviation 
Fuel (SAF) or Lower Carbon Aviation Fuel (LCAF). The information to be 
collected is necessary because FAA will use the information to fulfill 
the United States' responsibilities under the Chicago Convention

DATES: Written comments should be submitted by March 27, 2023.

ADDRESSES: Please send written comments:
    By Electronic Docket: www.regulations.gov (Enter docket number into 
search field).
    By mail: Kevin Partowazam, Federal Aviation Administration, AEE-5, 
800 Independence Ave. SW, Washington, DC 20591.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Kevin Partowazam by email at: 
[email protected]; phone: 202-267-3563.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
    Public Comments Invited: You are asked to comment on any aspect of 
this information collection, including (a) Whether the proposed 
collection of information is necessary for FAA's performance; (b) the 
accuracy of the estimated burden; (c) ways for FAA to enhance the 
quality, utility and clarity of the information collection; and (d) 
ways that the burden could be minimized without reducing the quality of 
the collected information. The agency will summarize and/or include 
your comments in the request for OMB's clearance of this information 
collection.
    OMB Control Number: 2120-0790.
    Title: CORSIA Monitoring, Reporting, and Verification (MRV) 
Program.
    Form Numbers: 1. Emissions Monitoring Plan (EMP) Template; 2. 
Emissions Report (ER) Template; 3. ER CORSIA Eligible Fuels Annex 
(CEFA).
    Type of Review: Clearance of a renewal of an information 
collection.
    Background: The CORSIA MRV Program is a voluntary program for 
certain U.S. air carriers and commercial operators (collectively 
referred hereinafter as ``operators'') to submit certain airplane 
CO2 emissions data to the FAA to enable the United States to 
establish uniformity with ICAO Standards And Recommended Practices 
(SARPs) for CORSIA, which were adopted in June 2018, as Annex 16, 
Volume IV to the Chicago Convention. The United States supported the 
decision to adopt the CORSIA SARPs based on the understanding that 
CORSIA is the exclusive market-based measure applying to international 
aviation, and that CORSIA will ensure fair and reciprocal commercial 
competition by avoiding a patchwork of country- or regionally-based 
regulatory measures that are inconsistently applied, bureaucratically 
costly, and economically damaging. Furthermore, continued U.S. support 
for CORSIA assumes a high level of participation by other countries, 
particularly by countries with significant aviation activity, as well 
as a final CORSIA package that is acceptable to, and implementable by, 
the United States.
    Under CORSIA, all ICAO Member States whose airplane operators 
undertake international flights will have needed to develop an MRV 
system for CO2 emissions from those international flights 
starting January 1, 2019. The FAA's CORSIA MRV Program is intended to 
be the United States' MRV system for monitoring, reporting, and 
verification of U.S. airplane operator CO2 emissions from 
international flights.
    Operators that are subject to the applicability of CORSIA will 
submit their EMPs, ERs, and ER CEFAs electronically.\1\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \1\ CORSIA applies to airplane operators that produce annual 
CO2 emissions greater than 10,000 tonnes (i.e., 10,000 
metric tons) from international flights, excluding emissions from 
excluded flights. The following activities are excluded CORSIA:
    --Domestic flights;
    --Humanitarian, medical, and firefighting operations, including 
flight(s) preceding or following a humanitarian, medical, or 
firefighting flight provided such flight(s) were conducted with the 
same airplane, were required to accomplish the related humanitarian, 
medical, or firefighting activities or to reposition thereafter the 
airplane for its next activity;
    --Operations using an airplane with a maximum certificated take-
off mass equal to or less than 5,700 kg;
    --Operations on behalf of the military.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Each document uses Microsoft Excel-based templates and can be 
transmitted via email or uploaded to a web portal. EMPs that are 
submitted by operators will be used as a collaborative tool between the 
operator and FAA to document a given operator's chosen fuel use 
monitoring procedures. FAA will retain a copy of the EMP and will share 
with ICAO a list of operators that submit EMPs. FAA will not submit any 
specific EMPs from U.S. operators to ICAO. Large operators, i.e., those 
emitting 500,000 metric tons or more of CO2 per year, will 
gather data through a ``fuel use monitoring method.'' Small operators, 
i.e., those emitting less than 500,000 metric tons of CO2 
per year, can use a simplified monitoring method. Annual ERs and 
optional ER CEFAs that are submitted to FAA by operators and verifiers 
will be used to document each operators' international emissions. FAA 
will use the ERs and ER CEFAs to calculate aggregated emissions data 
for all U.S. operators. FAA will submit the aggregated emissions data 
to ICAO to demonstrate U.S. implementation of CORSIA.
    Respondents: Respondents will be airplane operators subject to the 
applicability of Annex 16, Volume IV of the Chicago Convention. Since 
the CORSIA MRV Program was originally launched, FAA received 30 EMPs 
from participating operators, along with an annual ER from each. Some 
additional operators could submit an EMP and ER over time based on 
their international aviation activities.
    Frequency: An EMP is a one-time submission. An ER, and optional ER 
CEFA, is an annual submission.
    Estimated Average Burden per Response: FAA expects that filling and 
submitting an EMP could take an average of approximately 28.6 hours per 
operator. FAA expects that for operators using a Fuel Use Monitoring 
Method, the reporting hour burden could be approximately 47.5 hours per 
operator, per year. For operators using a simplified Monitoring Method, 
the reporting hour burden could be approximately 16 hours per operator, 
per year.
    Estimated Total Annual Burden: Based on the above, FAA expects that 
the average annual submission of an ER could take approximately 49.4 
hours per operator, per year. For operators using a Fuel Use Monitoring 
Method, this includes 60 hours per operator, per year for filling and 
reporting an ER and an additional potential 8 hours for filling and 
reporting the ER CEFA. For operators using simplified Monitoring 
Methods, this includes 17.5 hours per operator, per year for filling 
and reporting an ER and an additional potential 4 hours for filling and 
reporting the ER CEFA.


[[Page 4880]]


    Issued in Washington, DC, on January 19, 2023.
Kevin Welsh,
Executive Director, Office of Environment and Energy.
[FR Doc. 2023-01405 Filed 1-24-23; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4910-13-P


