{"id":8493,"date":"2026-02-05T09:58:53","date_gmt":"2026-02-05T09:58:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.greenairnews.com\/?p=8493"},"modified":"2026-05-12T17:42:26","modified_gmt":"2026-05-12T16:42:26","slug":"significant-support-needed-over-next-five-years-to-achieve-net-zero-says-industry-report","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.greenairnews.com\/?p=8493","title":{"rendered":"Significant support needed over next five years to achieve net zero, says industry report"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Momentum to achieve the aviation\u2019s long-term goal of net zero emissions by 2050 must accelerate over the next five years, says the Air Transport Action Group\u2019s (ATAG) latest Waypoint 2050 report. Its analysis reiterates there is no single solution to decarbonisation and outlines two scenarios to demonstrate how the sector could reach net zero by mid-century, the first with sustainable aviation fuel as the primary lever, the other a more technology-led pathway. The deployment of SAF remains central to the net zero transition, although the report notes that it has been slower than required but points to a significant increase in global production in recent years. It says SAF could contribute between 38% and 58% of required carbon reductions by 2050, down from the 53-71% forecast in the last edition in 2021, with carbon removals playing a bigger role.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u201cThis edition of Waypoint 2050<\/a> details the actions the aviation industry is taking and calls for support from key stakeholders to enable the decarbonisation of air transport,\u201d said ATAG Executive Director Haldane Dodd on unveiling the report at the Singapore Airshow. \u201cThis update confirms that net zero aviation by 2050 remains achievable only if momentum is accelerated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe next five years are critical to ensure air transport is on course for 2050. This is a collective effort, which requires joint action from the aviation industry, governments, and the finance and energy sectors.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Across its scenarios, the report highlights that accelerating progress in the short term will avoid higher costs and more complex and abrupt transitions later.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cEach year of delay makes net zero harder and more costly to achieve,\u201d said Dodd. \u201cEach missed opportunity for the right policy to be deployed pushes back progress. Many of the required foundations are in place. Now, urgent acceleration is required to get the trajectory of scale-up and deployment of key measures to reduce carbon emissions. Long-term policy certainty, investment and collaboration across the value chain will determine whether the sector stays on track.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To achieve the goal, the report by the cross-industry coalition lists five key requirements vital for early action:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2022 The rapid scale-up of SAF production through strengthened policies, industry and customer commitments, as well as investment in global supply chains;
\u2022 Reaffirming and expanding support for the Carbon Offsetting and Reduction Scheme for International Aviation (CORSIA);
\u2022 Deploying fuel-efficient aircraft faster into the fleet to enable significant fuel saving;
\u2022 Modernising air traffic management systems to reduce operational emissions; and
\u2022 Accelerating the development and scaling of \u201chigh quality, affordable\u201d carbon removals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Despite recent supply chain and geopolitical challenges, the report says the aviation sector is continuing to make progress, noting around one-third of the global fleet now consists of latest-generation aircraft, with further efficiency gains expected as new aircraft enter service.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAirports are improving infrastructure and operational efficiency, and air navigation service providers are enhancing flight efficiency,\u201d it adds. \u201cManufacturers continue to advance research into aircraft and engine technologies, including hydrogen and electric propulsion concepts.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Improving the way the sector operates and provides infrastructure could reduce emissions by 9% and next-generation aircraft technology could contribute another 12% to 21% of emissions reductions by 2050, depending on the adoption of hydrogen, electric and hybrid electric aircraft over the coming decades.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, it is SAF that is central to the industry\u2019s decarbonisation goal with its first scenario estimating a need for around 430-500 million tonnes of SAF per year by 2050, similar to that in the previous 2021 edition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That report estimated passenger traffic growing 2.5 times higher than 2019 by 2050. The new edition projects an average annual traffic growth rate of around 3.8%, resulting in a growth of 2.7 times higher than 2023 by 2050.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Whereas the 2021 Waypoint 2050 report estimated carbon removals would probably be needed for around 8% of residual emissions \u2013 those remaining emissions that cannot be mitigated through in-sector means \u2013 by 2050, the latest analysis forecasts that market-based measures, including emissions avoidance, reductions and removals, will likely be needed for 19% to 32% of residual emissions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Aviation\u2019s energy transition comes with benefits other than cutting emissions, said Dodd. \u201cThe net-zero pathway and roadmap of actions is an important framework to encourage investment, support jobs and create the right conditions for the continued growth in the economic and social benefits of air travel around the world,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cScaling SAF will drive investment, create new jobs and support energy security and economic prosperity, especially in developing economies.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Christopher Surgenor<\/strong>
Editor<\/p>\n\n\n

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<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Momentum to achieve the aviation\u2019s long-term goal of net zero emissions by 2050 must accelerate…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8494,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[119],"tags":[120],"class_list":["post-8493","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-analysis","tag-atag"],"featured_image_urls":{"full":["https:\/\/www.greenairnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Waypoint-2050-3rd-Edition.jpg",1185,790,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/www.greenairnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Waypoint-2050-3rd-Edition-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/www.greenairnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Waypoint-2050-3rd-Edition-300x200.jpg",300,200,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/www.greenairnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Waypoint-2050-3rd-Edition-768x512.jpg",640,427,true],"large":["https:\/\/www.greenairnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Waypoint-2050-3rd-Edition-1024x683.jpg",640,427,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/www.greenairnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Waypoint-2050-3rd-Edition.jpg",1185,790,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/www.greenairnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Waypoint-2050-3rd-Edition.jpg",1185,790,false],"newsever-slider-full":["https:\/\/www.greenairnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Waypoint-2050-3rd-Edition.jpg",1185,790,false],"newsever-featured":["https:\/\/www.greenairnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Waypoint-2050-3rd-Edition-1024x683.jpg",1024,683,true],"newsever-medium":["https:\/\/www.greenairnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Waypoint-2050-3rd-Edition-720x475.jpg",720,475,true],"mailchimp":["https:\/\/www.greenairnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Waypoint-2050-3rd-Edition-560x373.jpg",560,373,true]},"author_info":{"display_name":"Christopher Surgenor","author_link":"https:\/\/www.greenairnews.com\/?author=1"},"category_info":"Analysis<\/a>","tag_info":"Analysis","comment_count":"0","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greenairnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8493","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greenairnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greenairnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenairnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenairnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=8493"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenairnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8493\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8497,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenairnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8493\/revisions\/8497"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenairnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/8494"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greenairnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8493"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenairnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8493"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenairnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8493"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}