As first airline drops goal, are aviation’s 2030 targets achievable without carbon offsets?
Air New Zealand has dropped its 2030 emissions reductions targets, validated by the Science-Based Targets Initiative.
On Tuesday, New Zealand’s biggest airline announced that it was dropping its target, set just two years ago, to reduce emissions by just under a third between 2019 and 2030.
In a statement, Air New Zealand’s CEO Greg Foran said that because of delays to the delivery of more fuel-efficient aircraft and because “so many levers needed to meet the target are outside our control”, the airline was dropping its target and withdrawing from the Science-Based Targets initiative (SBTi), an influential non-governmental arbiter of corporate climate targets.
As several airlines have made similar targets for 2030 or 2035, the move has cast doubt on whether they can meet them. It has also raised difficult questions about the role of carbon offsets in decarbonising aviation, a sector that accounts for an estimated 2-3% of global emissions.
Sustainability consultant and offset developer Chris Hocknell told Climate Home that Air New Zealand’s decision to leave SBTi shows that the body’s rules, particularly around offsets, are too harsh. He accused SBTi of “environmental zealotry”, a “lack of realism” and of not engaging with businesses trying to reduce their emissions...
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23 w
Bad ⚠️
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24 w
Instead of complaining about the goal being too harsh and giving up, why not give it a try?!
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24 w
@ke_vermeer_xie Exactly! Let them show what they have done so far towards achieving the targets, then identify genuine bottlenecks and deal with them.