Members of the UN Aviation Agency have agreed to work toward achieving net-zero carbon emissions in air travel by the year 2050. Air travel has come under fire for playing outside?role in climate change.
During the meeting, which was held at the Montreal headquarters of the International Civil Aviation Organization, representatives from 193 countries came to a “historic agreement on a collective long-term aspirational goal (LTAG) of net-zero carbon emissions by 2050,” the UN agency announced on Twitter.
It continued by urging states to have “far greater ambition and expenditure to ensuring aviation is fully decarbonized by 2050 or before.”
“It’s a fantastic outcome, a diplomatic source told AFP, adding that only four nations, including China, which is driving the majority of the world’s air travel development, “had raised doubts.” “The pressure on the aviation sector to address its disproportionate contribution to the climate catastrophe has risen.
The sector, which now accounts for 2.5% to 3% of global CO2 emissions, is finding it challenging to transition to renewable fuels, despite the efforts of the energy and aeronautics sectors.
Airlines were “very encouraged” by the acceptance of the climate objective, according to the International Air Transport Association (IATA), one year after the organization took the same stance at its own general meeting.
“We expect significantly stronger legislative actions in critical areas of decarbonization, such as incentivizing the production capacity of sustainable aviation fuels,” IATA Director General Willie Walsh said in a statement.
Airlines estimate that between 2021 and 2050, $1.5 billion in investments will be needed to decarbonize aviation.
Airports Council International, which represents 1,950 airports in 185 countries, is led by Luis Felipe de Oliveira. He remarked, “The global aviation community welcomes this major agreement.”
The fact that both governments and industry are now moving in the same direction and sharing an unified policy framework marks a turning point in the endeavor to decarbonize the aviation sector, he said in a statement.
The agreement, however, did not satisfy all non-governmental organizations, who expressed disappointment that it did not go far enough and was not legally binding.
According to a widely-cited 2018 study by Nordic researchers, only approximately 11% of people worldwide fly each year, which makes airplanes the target of unusually harsh criticism.
Additionally, it was discovered that the 1% of passengers who fly the most are responsible for 50% of airline emissions.