Zero net emissions by 2050: a huge challenge for airline industry

The airline sector is aiming for net zero carbon emissions by 2050, a huge challenge for an industry that currently relies on fossil fuels

How can passengers take 10 billion flights a year without contributing to global warming? The question of "greening" the international aviation sector by 2050 constitutes a colossal task whose stakes -- and sheer numbers -- can make the head spin, according to the airlines themselves.

At its general assembly in Boston Monday, the International Air Transport Association (IATA) said it is now aiming for "net zero carbon emissions" by the middle of the century, a bold but necessary goal in the face of global warming, according to its CEO Willie Walsh.

"For us the main target is to continue growing, because it's not the traffic that is the enemy, it's the emissions," said Sebastian Mikosz, IATA vice president in charge of environmental affairs and sustainable development.

As it stands, the aviation sector produces 900 million tons of CO2 per year, according to IATA. By 2050, if nothing is done to reduce the industry's carbon footprint, that will rise to 1.8 billion tons. 

– 10,000% increase in production –

These fuels -- made from biomass, waste oils and could even be made from carbon capture in the future -- have the advantage that they can be used directly in existing aircraft, which are designed to run on 50-percent blends of kerosene. And such fuel sources can reduce CO2 emissions by 80 percent compared to kerosene over their entire life cycle, according to IATA.

Encouraged by governments, the infrastructure to produce SAFs is being set up in the United States and Europe, but is still embryonic -- and the cheapest fuel that comes out costs four times more than kerosene, a fossil fuel.

"We need to multiply our supply by 10,000 percent," he said.

"If those technologies do not deliver what we need by 2050... we can compensate it through SAF," said Mikosz.

IATA's strategy, like that of the European aviation sector, also relies on a system of carbon capture and emissions trading to start the transition, amounting to 19 percent of the total reduction. 

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