Every consultant will say they can help with CORSIA. The purpose of a selection conversation is to find out whether they have actually done it, and the fastest way is to ask questions that cannot be answered from a brochure.
On Experience
1. Which CORSIA compliance cycles have you delivered, and for what kind of operator? Listen for specifics — fleet scale, entity structure, which cycle. Vagueness here predicts vagueness everywhere.
2. Have you written an emissions monitoring plan that a civil aviation authority accepted? The plan is the foundational document. A firm that has never had one accepted is learning on your engagement.
3. Have you sat through a CORSIA verification? And what findings arose? Anyone who has been in the room will have opinions about what verifiers press on.
4. Which verification bodies have you worked alongside? Names, and what each focused on.
5. What is the most common finding you see? A real answer sounds like "incomplete evidence for the data gap procedure" or "fuel method applied inconsistently at outstations". A generic answer means limited exposure.
6. Have you worked with the DGCA process specifically? ICAO-level knowledge is necessary and not sufficient. The practical timelines and formats are national.
7. Can we speak to a client reference on a comparable engagement? And ideally one where something went wrong.
On the Work Itself
8. Walk me through our applicability position as you understand it. A firm that has read your brief will have a provisional view. One that has not will deflect.
9. Which fuel monitoring method would you recommend for our operation, and why? The reasoning matters more than the answer, and it reveals whether they understand your operation.
10. How do you handle wet-leased aircraft in scope? A specific, commonly mishandled case. See CORSIA compliance for Indian airlines.
11. What does your data gap procedure look like? It should be conservative, pre-defined and applied consistently — not chosen after seeing which value is favourable.
12. How do you reconcile reported fuel burn against finance records? If they do not do this, they are missing the check the verifier will perform.
13. What evidence pack do you prepare for verification? Structure, contents, and how it maps to the plan.
14. How do you keep the monitoring plan current when the fleet or routes change? Stale plans are findings.
On Offsetting and Credits
15. Explain the difference between our MRV obligation and our offsetting obligation. The single best test question. Anyone who conflates them should not be advising you.
16. How do you determine which route pairs attract an offsetting requirement? Should reference the participating-state list and the route-pair test, not operator nationality.
17. What makes an emissions unit CORSIA-eligible? Should cover approved programme, vintage window and corresponding adjustment — and should mention the corresponding adjustment without prompting.
18. Do you sell emissions units, or hold any interest in a firm that does? Ask directly. See CORSIA consultant due diligence and red flags.
19. If we asked you to procure units, how would you be remunerated? Fee, margin, or both — and disclosed.
20. How would you verify that units offered to us carry a corresponding adjustment? Should describe documentary evidence and registry checks, not assurance from the seller — see the CORSIA credit due diligence checklist.
On Commercials and Delivery
21. Who will actually do the work? Names, grades and availability. The partner in the pitch is frequently not the person on the engagement.
22. What is excluded from your fee? Push until the answer is specific. Data remediation, additional entities, authority queries and findings closure are the usual exclusions.
23. If the verifier raises a material finding on your deliverable, who closes it and at whose cost? The answer tells you how confident they are in their own work.
24. What will year two cost, and why is it lower? A firm building your capability will have a clear answer. A firm building an annuity will not.
25. What will you leave behind so we can run this ourselves? Named artefacts — procedures, data flow diagram, evidence template, worked example, training session.
Reading the Answers
Patterns worth noticing across the whole conversation:
Do they ask you questions? A consultant who has done this will want to know about your entity structure, your fuel data systems, your outstations and your existing reporting obligations. One who only presents is selling, not scoping.
Do they distinguish the two practices? Operator-side MRV and project-side credit supply are different jobs. A firm that treats them as one has probably done neither at depth.
Do they volunteer limitations? "We would bring in a specialist for the corresponding adjustment engagement" is a mark of competence, not weakness.
Do they talk about data or about strategy? CORSIA compliance is 80% data assurance. A conversation that stays at strategy level for an hour has avoided the actual work.
Are they precise about what is uncertain? Participating states, phase parameters and eligible unit criteria change. A consultant who states all of it as settled fact is either out of date or overconfident.
A Short Practical Test
If you want one exercise that reveals capability quickly, give shortlisted firms a small, real problem:
Here is an anonymised sample of one month of our fuel data and a summary of our route network. Tell us, in two pages: which flights you believe are in scope, which fuel monitoring method you would recommend, what data gaps you can already see, and what you would need from us that is not in this sample.
Firms that have done the work produce something useful in two pages. Firms that have not produce a methodology description. It costs each of them a day and it tells you more than any reference call.
Documents to Request
| Document | What it shows |
|---|---|
| Redacted monitoring plan excerpt | That they can write one |
| Redacted gap analysis | How rigorous their assessment is |
| Evidence pack structure | Verification readiness |
| CVs of the named team | Who is actually doing the work |
| Independence declaration | Any credit sales interest |
| Insurance and contractual terms | Standard, but check |
For background reading on the scheme itself, the ICAO CORSIA pages hold the governing documents, the DGCA publishes the Indian requirements, and our own CORSIA knowledge base covers the mechanics in more depth.
Scoring the Responses
If more than two firms are in contention, score rather than impression-match. A simple weighted sheet keeps the decision defensible internally and stops the most confident presenter winning by default.
| Criterion | Weight | What earns full marks |
|---|---|---|
| CORSIA delivery evidence | 25% | Named cycles delivered, plans accepted |
| Verification experience | 20% | Has been through it; can describe findings |
| Understanding of our operation | 15% | Asked good questions; provisional view offered |
| Named team and availability | 15% | Specific people, confirmed capacity |
| Independence | 10% | No undisclosed credit sales interest |
| Knowledge transfer offer | 10% | Named artefacts, not a promise |
| Commercial clarity | 5% | Exclusions explicit, year two priced |
Note what is deliberately absent: firm size and brand. Neither predicts whether your monitoring plan will be accepted, and both correlate strongly with price.
Weight verification experience heavily. It is the hardest thing to fake, because a verification is a live event with an independent third party and anyone who has been in one carries specific, unrehearsable detail — which documents were sampled, what the verifier pushed on, how findings were worded and closed.
Score independently before discussing as a group. Scores discussed first tend to converge on whoever spoke last.
Frequently Asked Questions
What should I ask a CORSIA consultant? Start with whether they have had a monitoring plan accepted and whether they have been through a verification. Those two questions separate delivery experience from market knowledge quickly.
How do I know if they have real CORSIA experience? Ask for specifics — operators, cycles, verification bodies, findings encountered. Real experience produces concrete answers.
What is the best single test question? Ask them to explain the difference between the MRV obligation and the offsetting obligation. Conflating them is disqualifying.
Should I ask about corresponding adjustments? Yes, and a good consultant will raise them unprompted when discussing unit eligibility.
How do I check independence? Ask directly whether they sell units or hold an interest in a firm that does, and how they would be remunerated on any procurement.
Should I request a paid trial? A short paid gap analysis or a two-page scoping exercise is a low-cost way to see how a firm actually works before committing.
What documents should I request? A redacted monitoring plan excerpt, a redacted gap analysis, an evidence pack structure, team CVs and an independence declaration.
Does the consultant need aviation experience? It helps considerably. Understanding flight records, fuel uplift processes and outstation operations shortens the engagement.
What if a firm answers everything confidently? Ask what they find uncertain. CORSIA has genuinely moving parts, and total certainty is a warning sign in itself.
Need a CORSIA consultant in India? DSTechnoverse advises airlines and aircraft operators on CORSIA monitoring, reporting and verification, and works with project developers on eligible credit supply, corresponding adjustments and buyer due diligence. We are based in Indore, Madhya Pradesh and work with clients across India. See our CORSIA carbon credit services, our carbon credit portal at carboncredit.dstechnoverse.com, or talk to our team about your compliance year.
This article is general information, not legal or regulatory advice. CORSIA rules and the list of participating states change — verify the current position with ICAO and the DGCA before acting.
