For each scenario, it puts hard numbers behind the various regulatory and industry-driven decarbonisation proposals to assess whether European aviation, on its path to becoming carbon-neutral by 2050, can achieve the European Union’s intermediate target of a 55% reduction in CO2 emissions by 2030 compared to 1990 levels.
We conclude that a 55% CO2 emissions reduction target by 2030 is achievable in all traffic scenarios, but underline that this relies heavily on market-based measures. And we find that of our three traffic scenarios, counterintuitively the High scenario, with the most air traffic by 2030, would be the most efficient to reach net zero emissions by 2050 at lower cost, as higher revenues will drive increased investment in new technology.
This report explores in more detail the findings of our latest Think Paper.