Wednesday 31 March 2021

Major US airlines soar towards net zero carbon emissions by 2050

Airlines for America (A4A), the industry trade organisation representing major US airlines, has announced the commitment of its members to work towards achieving net zero carbon emissions by 2050.

As part of the commitment, A4A carriers have pledged to collaborate with the government and other stakeholders towards a rapid expansion of the production and deployment of commercially viable sustainable aviation fuel (SAF).

They aim to make two billion gallons of SAF available to US aircraft operators by 2030.

Many airlines are already investing in SAF but A4A says the aviation industry requires a similar “urgent commitment” from policymakers, fuel producers and others in the feedstock and fuel supply chain to achieve meaningful scalability.

A4A President and CEO Nicholas E. Calio said: “We are proud of our record on climate change. But we know the climate change challenge our country and the world face has only continued to intensify. Today, we embrace the need to take even bolder, more significant steps to address this challenge.

“Given that airlines are already driven to be highly fuel efficient, pushing technology, SAF, operational and infrastructure advances even farther to achieve net zero is a massive undertaking. Reaching the 2030 SAF goal alone with require an 84% annual average increase in SAF production through 2030. to move the needle, we must all work together and the government needs to be an active partner and provide positive infrastructure and other investments to complement our efforts.”