"The agreement, years in the making, is a milestone in the effort to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from airplanes worldwide."
"After almost a decade of talks, the nations of the world committed Friday to drastically lower emissions of planet-warming gases from the world’s airplanes by 2050, a milestone in efforts to ease the climate effects of a fast-growing sector.
The target to reach “net zero” emissions — a point in which air travel is no longer pumping any additional carbon dioxide into the atmosphere — would require the aviation industry to significantly step up its climate efforts. Previously, companies had relied on offsetting aviation’s emissions growth through tree-planting programs or through yet-to-be-proven technology to pull carbon dioxide out of the air.
But to reach net zero, companies and governments would need to invest hundreds of billions of dollars in increasingly efficient planes and cleaner fuels to sharply reduce emissions from air travel itself. And even those investments are unlikely to be enough, compelling countries and companies to adopt policies to curb flying itself, by scrapping fuel subsidies or halting airport expansion plans, for example, or ending frequent flier programs."
Hiroko Tabuchi reports for the New York Times October 9, 2022.
SEE ALSO:
"EPA Targets Lead Airplane Fuel, Citing Children Living Near Runways" (Washington Post)
"Climate Change: World Aviation Agrees 'Aspirational' Net Zero Plan" (BBC News)
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