Five Key Steps to Decarbonize the Aviation Industry by 2050

A groundbreaking report by Cambridge University has outlined a five-year roadmap to help the aviation industry achieve net-zero climate impact by 2050.

Despite bold commitments from governments and businesses, the aviation sector remains significantly off track in its efforts to reach net-zero emissions by 2050. The report, titled "Five Years to Chart a New Future for Aviation," details four 2030 Sustainable Aviation Goals—specific, actionable steps that must be initiated immediately and completed within five years to set the industry on the path to net-zero by 2050:

• Accelerating the deployment of a global contrail avoidance system, which could reduce aviation's carbon footprint by up to 40 %. This would require setting up experiments across entire airspace regions to gain practical experience.

• Implementing new regulations to unlock system-wide efficiency gains in the current aviation industry, leveraging improvements that individual companies cannot achieve alone. This could potentially halve fuel consumption by 2050.

• Amending Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) regulations to support the production of renewable electricity while considering global biomass limitations across all sectors would provide market certainty, rapidly scale up SAF production, and ensure its sustainability.

The report underscores that the aviation sector can achieve net-zero emissions by 2050 if these actions are initiated now and completed within the next five years.

The University of Cambridge, in collaboration with the Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership (CISL) and the Whittle Laboratory, led the Aviation Impact Accelerator (AIA) project, which produced the report. The findings will be presented to key industry leaders during events organized by the Sustainable Markets Initiative at New York Climate Week.

The Whittle Laboratory is a globally recognized research center specializing in aviation and energy. CISL partners with leading industries worldwide to develop low-emission and zero-emission technologies, supporting businesses and governments in their transition to a sustainable economy.

Aviation stands at a pivotal moment, much like the automotive industry in the late 2000s. Back then, discussions centered around biofuels as the replacement for petrol and diesel—until Tesla revolutionized the future with electric vehicles. Our five-year plan is designed to accelerate this decision point in aviation, setting it on a path to achieve net zero by 2050.

Rob Miller, Professor and Director, Cambridge University

“Too often, the discussions about how to achieve sustainable aviation lurch between overly optimistic thinking about current industry efforts and doom-laden cataloging of the sector’s environmental evils. The Aviation Impact Accelerator modeling has drawn on the best available evidence to show that there are major challenges to be navigated if we’re to achieve net zero flying at scale, but that it is possible. With focus and a step change in ambition from governments and business, we can address the hurdles, unlock sustainable flying, and in doing so build new industries and support wider economic change,” said Eliot Whittington, Executive Director of the Institute for Sustainability Leadership at Cambridge University.