Major US carriers pledge to achieve net-zero carbon emissions by 2050. Credit: Stefan Fluck on Unsplash.

Industry trade organisation Airlines for America (A4A) has announced that its member airlines have pledged to achieve net-zero carbon emissions by 2050.

The A4A represents the leading passenger and cargo carriers in the US.

Under this commitment, the carriers will work with US federal, state and local governments and other industry stakeholders to deploy commercially viable technology, operations, infrastructure and sustainable aviation fuel (SAF).

By 2030, they will make two billion gallons of SAF available to US aircraft operators.

A4A president and CEO Nicholas Calio said: “We are proud of our record on climate change. But we know the climate change challenge our country and the world face has only continued to intensify.

“Today, we embrace the need to take even bolder, more significant steps to address this challenge.”

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Various members of A4A have so far already started investing in SAF. However, the aviation industry requires a similar urgent commitment from policymakers, along with fuel producers and parties in the feedstock and fuel supply chain to achieve significant scalability.

To achieve the 2030 SAF goal, the annual average SAF production needs to be increased to 84%.

Calio added: “Given that airlines are already driven to be highly fuel-efficient, pushing technology, SAF, operational and infrastructure advances even farther to achieve net-zero is a massive undertaking.

“To move the needle, we must all work together, and the government needs to be an active partner and provide positive infrastructure and other investments to complement our efforts.”

Alaska, American, Atlas Air, Delta, FedEx, Hawaiian, JetBlue Airways, Southwest, United and UPS are A4A members while Air Canada is an associate member.