SUN calls for “moon-shot” effort by aviation sector to be zero-carbon by 2050
“Good Tourism” Insight Partner SUNx — Strong Universal Network — has again called for a “moon-shot” effort by the aviation and air transport sector to be zero-carbon by 2050.
During FITUR, the international tourism fair in Madrid, SUNx Co-Founder Geoffrey Lipman said that the aviation sector’s decarbonisation pledge — for 50% of 2005 levels — was now more than a decade old and was “no longer in the mainstream of climate resilience thinking”.
Introduced at the Copenhagen COP in 2009 as part of IATA’s four-pillar strategy, the pledge has been left behind by the Paris Agreement and the UNFCCC Carbon Neutral 2050 drive, according to Prof Lipman.
“The core underpinning [of the 2009 pledge] that envisages an adequate supply of safe, sustainable fuel, focused on biofuels, also deserves challenging.
“Fossil fuel companies have come to the game with not only too little, too late, but also too deficient in terms of full life-cycle.
“It’s time for them to up their game and create an ambitious pathway for 100% synthetic aviation fuel well in advance of 2050 — starting now.”
The former top executive of IATA, WTTC, and UNWTO added: “This is crazy given air transport’s dominant global socio-economic contribution, with unique support for island and landlocked countries — particularly developing states.
“It cannot be that aviation is looking at an ultra-conservative 2050 ambition pathway – when the rest of the world is looking to net zero carbon.
“We need a moon-shot approach – like the intense decade-long collaboration activated by President Kennedy to put Neil Armstrong on the lunar surface.
“We can build on the sector’s relatively modest CORSIA initiative [by] integrating a Climate Neutral 2050 target.
“It also needs the fossil fuel companies to radically increase their commitment to this sector and massively increase the money allocated to R&D in this area.”
Noting that major airlines and airports had declared their Climate Neutral 2050 goals and that the EU was advocating its aviation-inclusive Green New Deal, Prof Lipman added: “It’s time for the rest of the sector to follow suit and for the aviation community to embrace the moon-shot drive.”
Featured image: By unknown (CC0) via PxFuel
