In 2009, the International Air Transport Association – international aviation’s representative body – set itself the target of halving its CO2 emissions by 2050 compared with 2005. Since then various approaches have outlined how this goal can be attained and even exceeded.
In 2016, the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) adopted the strategy of achieving further growth without additional CO2 emissions from 2020 and of attaining an annual 2% efficiency improvement by 2050. In 2020, the Waypoint 2050 report by the Air Transport Action Group outlined three ways of cutting global CO2 emissions from aviation to net zero by 2065 at the latest.
In early 2021 representatives of Europe’s airlines, airports, manufacturers and air traffic control organisations published an even more ambitious strategy called Destination 2050, which sets out a path for achieving net-zero CO2 emissions by 2050 on all flights taking off in Europe (EU, EFTA, UK).
Representatives of the Swiss aviation industry have also committed to a net-zero target by 2050, including Aerosuisse, Swiss, easyJet, Zurich, Geneva and Basel airports and the Swiss Business Aviation Association. A roadmap for sustainable aviation has been drawn up.
All of these preparatory steps led to ICAO adopting the ambitious long-term global aspirational goal of net-zero CO2 emissions by 2050 at the 41st session of its General Assembly in autumn 2022. It is now a question of gradually working towards this goal, together with all private and state stakeholders.
