The aviation industry has reiterated its commitment to achieving net zero emissions by 2050, time and again, in line with the sustainable development goals. But the feasibility of achieving the target is shaky. 

Addressing the annual meeting of the International Air Transport Association (IATA), CEO of Qatar Airways Akbar Al Baker described this as the airline industry’s “PR exercise”, adding that the industry will miss its target. 

In a conversation with CNN during the event, Al Baker said, “Let us not fool ourselves. We will not even reach the targets we have for 2030, I assure you. Because there is not enough raw material to get the volumes of SAF (sustainable aviation fuel).”

Al Baker says that the target is unrealistic as the volume of SAF production was nowhere near meeting the growing demand. He adds that the industry is in denial about the progress rate. SAF production is less than 0.1% of what is needed for aviation to achieve net zero

Baker believes that though net zero is achievable in the future, it will not meet the 2050 time frame as the aviation industry is still lagging. 

IATA has pledged to scale up the use of SAF by 2030, in line with its net-zero emissions by 2050 target. In 2022 SAF production tripled to 300 million liters from 100 million liters in 2021. 

A production capacity of 450 billion liters annually is needed for the airline industry to achieve net zero by 2050.