Net zero aviation: rising to the challenge

Lynnette Dray

Chapter 25 in Research Handbook on Air Transport Management, 2026, pp 322-334 from Edward Elgar Publishing

Abstract: This chapter examines perhaps the greatest challenge facing the global aviation system today: the struggle to align the sector with the world's net zero goals by 2050. It is often assumed that aviation will continue to have significant climate impacts well past 2050, which may have to be balanced out by negative emissions elsewhere (e.g., IATA, 2024; IEA, 2023). In recent years, however, many aviation stakeholders have made commitments to bring parts of the sector to net zero by 2050. Commitments by different stakeholders often refer to different pollutants, geographic scopes and types of flight. Therefore, this chapter first examines what is meant by net zero in aviation. After this, the chapter discusses the factors that make aviation difficult to decarbonise and how stakeholder commitments might be achieved. Finally, practical measures that are being taken now to decarbonise the sector, and the scope for their progress in future, are reviewed.

Keywords: Aviation emissions; Net zero; Transport policy; Low-carbon technologies; Low-carbon fuels (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2026
ISBN: 9781035336272
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