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At a meeting in Brussels on Tuesday, European airline groups urged the EU to recognize aviation as a “hard-to-abate” sector.
In essence, they’re saying: We want to hit net-zero goals by 2050, but we need help, and don’t penalize us along the way.
The coalition, called Destination 2050, includes the Airports Council International (ACI) and Airlines for Europe (A4E). The discussions are related to the EU’s Clean Industrial Deal, a mammoth plan to decarbonize European industries that emit greenhouse gases.
Aviation leaders want assurance that their sector will receive strong backing, given the immense challenges it faces in reducing emissions from air travel.
“The inclusion of aviation in this deal would be a starting point that needs to be further translated into a comprehensive aviation industrial strategy that will provide the necessary support to effectively enable the decarbonization of the sector,” a spokesperson from the group told Skift.
Executives from Airlines for Europe, Airports Council International and the European Commission were amongst those at a meeting in Brussels about aviation’s climate goals.
At the meeting, Destination 2050 published an update to its strategy, which outlines a roadmap to reduce emissions and reach net-zero by 2050.
They also asked the EU for an updated aviation strategy. The last time the EU published one was in 2019.
“The [document] is outdated in as much as it does not take into account the radically changed energy and geopolitical landscapes, as well as the urgency to act on the sector’s decarbonization,” the Destination 2050 spokesperson said.
Destination 2050 pushed for more aggressive EU action to develop and scale up sustainable aviation fuel (SAF), calling for policies to lower costs and boost production.
“This new strategy would provide direction not only for aviation stakeholders but also for investors, fuel suppliers, energy producers and the many other instances that will have a stake in our route to net zero,” Destination 2050 said in a statement.
A European Union spokesperson told Skift that the Clean Industrial Deal is still in development and that there is no further information on what may be included. The spokesperson said it would be released later on the 27th of February this year.
Skift’s in-depth reporting on climate issues is made possible through the financial support of Intrepid Travel. This backing allows Skift to bring you high-quality journalism on one of the most important topics facing our planet today. Intrepid is not involved in any decisions made by Skift’s editorial team.
