Aerospace companies around the world have pledged to achieve net zero emissions by the year 2050, an ambitious tightening of the previous goals of reducing net emissions to half that of the 2005 level.
The industry makes up about 3% of global emissions and if the companies would like to reach their goal, they need to invest hundreds of billions of dollars into renewable aircraft and energy systems.
The decision was made during a meeting of the International Air Transport Association (IATA) in Boston and was met by little pushback or criticism with just the Chinese air manufacturers protesting that 2050 was a decade earlier than the goals already established by Beijing. While previous emission goals of the same kind have been sparsely achieved, the agreement brings hope that an industry with soaring carbon emissions may soon be brought down to earth.
