IATA releases roadmaps and milestones towards meeting industry’s net zero by 2050 target

The sustainability challenge is, bar none, the biggest we will face as leaders of the aviation industry, Director General Willie Walsh told delegates in his keynote report at IATA’s 2023 AGM and World Air Transport Summit held in Istanbul. At its meeting in 2021, airlines committed to achieving net zero carbon by 2050 and released its Fly Net Zero strategy on how the aviation sector could reach the target. Together with industry stakeholders, IATA has updated the strategy and published five roadmaps covering aircraft technology, operations, finance, policy and energy and new fuels infrastructure. Achieving net zero will depend on early policy support and targeted financing to accelerate the transition, says IATA, but the greatest challenge will not be related to any specific solution but to the pace at which it needs to happen. The cost of the transition to net zero is estimated at over $5 trillion dollars. [...]