Decarbonisation
At Airbus, we believe meaningful reductions in carbon emissions are within reach. To deliver on our decarbonisation strategy, we have the ambition to develop our first hydrogen-powered commercial aircraft by 2035 to ensure future generations can enjoy flying as much as we do.
A seismic shift for the aerospace industry
Aviation has given us the possibility to explore all four corners of our planet. To connect with friends and to meet new ones – anywhere. To feel the thrill of seeing our world from 30,000 feet.
Today, we know our love of air travel also comes at a cost: the aviation industry represents over 2% of global man-made CO2 emissions.
At Airbus, we are committed to leading the decarbonisation of the aerospace sector. This includes reducing the CO2 emissions of our aircraft, helicopters, satellites and launch vehicles, as well as our industrial environmental footprint at sites worldwide and throughout our supply chain. To this end, we are contributing to meet key industry-wide environmental performance targets. We are working to deliver on our ambition to bring our first hydrogen-powered commercial aircraft to market by 2035.
As we work to achieve our ambition, we are also continuously enhancing our company-wide product and services portfolio to contribute to climate change mitigation and adaptation.
Objective: 'net-zero carbon emissions by 2050'
Airbus aligns with global and binding decarbonisation programmes, in addition to other market-based measures, to help cap the aviation industry’s CO2 emissions. We support and contribute to the industry-wide ambition to implement global market-based measures for the aviation industry.
The aviation industry, including Airbus, has committed to an industry-wide decarbonisation movement that includes the following key targets:
- Low carbon growth: For a number of years, aviation stakeholders have thought out and executed stronger programmes and frameworks to reduce carbon emissions whilst air travel is increasing.
- Contributing to the IATA, ATAG and ICAO’s ambition of ‘net-zero carbon emission by 2050': Through innovative aircraft architecture, aerodynamic design and new technological bricks, Airbus is leading the way toward an improved environmental footprint for aviation.
Our climate action plan
Fleet renewal
Improving fuel burn of our existing fleet
We are constantly improving our existing fleet, optimising wings and engines, and using lighter materials to make our products more fuel-efficient. Our latest generation family of aircraft offer around 25% greater efficiency compared to the previous generations.
Aircraft operation
We leverage air traffic management (ATM) solutions and ground-and-flight operational measures to reduce the impact of air travel on the environment. We are involved in pan-European initiatives such as the Single European Sky Air Traffic Management Research (SESAR) initiative to further explore this area.
Sustainable aviation fuel
Advancing the ecosystem for a proven alternative fuel
Today, all Airbus aircraft and helicopters are capable of operating on a 50% blend of SAF. Today, sustainable aviation fuel allows an average 80% CO2 reduction across the SAF lifecycle. Our objective is to enable all our commercial and military aircraft and helicopters to be able to operate on 100% SAF by 2030.
Low-carbon aviation
Introducing new technologies to reduce emissions
We cannot make a significant improvement to the CO2 emissions of aircraft and helicopters with existing technologies. This is why we are investing in disruptive solutions such as electrification, hybridisation and hydrogen to accelerate the pathways needed to achieve our decarbonisation ambition.
CO2 compensation and neutralisation
A medium-term solution while more disruptive solutions mature
We support ICAO’s CORSIA scheme as the only global market-based measure for international civil aviation. We have also invested in a company that develops direct air carbon capture technology and have an agreement with 1PointFive for the offtake purchase of 400,000 tons of carbon removal credits.
Non-CO2 emissions
Mitigating non-CO2 gases and particles
Decarbonisation of the aviation industry is a key focus, and at Airbus that includes reducing or eliminating the other non-CO2 emissions generated during flight. Airbus is leading with many projects, such as CICONIA, GEESE and VOLCAN. These projects use funding from the European Union and see us work in conjunction with partners to better understand the climate impact of these emissions, and develop operational solutions to mitigate them.
Impactful partnerships to tackle climate change
To achieve these ambitious targets, we fully understand that we cannot move forward alone. This is why we align our climate action plan to a variety of industry-wide environmental principles and targets driven by organisations in which Airbus plays a leading role.
- ATAG: The Air Transport Action Group is a global independent body that brings together the entire aviation industry to promote sustainable growth that benefits society.
- Clean Aviation: The Clean Aviation Joint Undertaking aims to develop disruptive new aircraft technologies to support the European Green Deal, and the IATA, ATAG and ICAO’s ambition of climate neutrality by 2050. The Clean Aviation Joint Undertaking runs from 2021-2031 and boasts a budget of EUR 4.1 billion. We are a founding member.
- Hydrogen Council: This global initiative brings together energy, transport and industry companies to deliver a united vision and long-term ambition for hydrogen in fostering the energy transition. We are currently a member of the Hydrogen Council to benefit from the huge cross-industry experience on hydrogen.
- IAEG: The International Aerospace Environmental Group promotes global standards for greenhouse gas emissions reporting, substances management and substitution technologies. We are a founding member of IAEG.
- SESAR 3: We are a founding member of the SESAR 3 Joint Undertaking. This European private-public sector partnership aims to harness research and innovation to accelerate the delivery of the Digital European Sky.
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