Yahoo Sports Aviation Won’t Reach Its Goal of Net-Zero Carbon Emissions by 2050, Qatar Airways CEO Says
Aviation’s emissions targets may have been too aggressive—according to one high flyer, at least.
Qatar Airways CEO Akbar Al Baker said the industry is unlikely to reach its goal of net-zero carbon emissions by 2050 at the annual meeting of the International Air Transport Association (IATA) on Sunday. IATA pledged to “fly net zero by 2050” back in October 2021, but Al Baker says the plan is a “PR exercise” and the member airlines will not meet the deadline.
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“Let’s not fool ourselves,” the CEO told CNN. “We will not even reach targets we have for 2023, I assure you. Because there is not enough raw material to get the volumes of SAF [sustainable aviation fuel].”
Al Baker is one of the longest-serving and most influential executives in aviation and also previously served as IATA’s chair. He reportedly still believes that net zero is achievable, but not in the existing timeframe.
SAF is indeed the key to reaching aviation’s goal. The game-changing biofuel is made from used cooking oil, ethanol, and other raw materials. As such, it results in 90 percent less particulate matter (that white stuff you see in the sky) and reduces carbon dioxide emissions by up to 80 percent.
SAF production is currently less than 0.1 percent of what is needed for aviation to reach net zero. Despite this, IATA’s director general Willie Walsh says the trend is positive, pointing to a tripling of production to 9 million gallons last year. That figure would need to increase to 117 billion gallons by 2050 to meet IATA’s emissions goals.
“We’re openly acknowledging that this is going to be a huge challenge,” Walsh said. “I think it would be wrong for us to try and convince people that this is going to be easy, and it’s going to be cheap—it’s not. But the idea that we can’t do it—no, I don’t accept that.”
IATA has also unveiled new strategic roadmaps highlighting the critical steps needed to reach net zero by 2050. (We put together our own projected timeline for private aviation here.)
“The roadmaps are a call to action for all aviation’s stakeholders to deliver the tools needed to make this fundamental transformation of aviation a success with policies and products fit for a net-zero world,” Walsh added.
We’re rooting for you, IATA.
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