Aviation Giants Commit to Boosting Industry Sustainability

   By Maitane Sardon 
 

The chief technology officers of seven aerospace manufacturers on Tuesday released their first joint statement committing to make aviation more sustainable.

The CTOs of Airbus (AIR.FR), Boeing Co.(BA), Safran SA. (SAF.FR), Rolls-Royce Holdings PLC (RR.LN), General Electric (GE) subsidiary GE Aviation, Dassault Aviation SA.(AM.FR)and United Technologies Corp. (UTX) called for action on climate change and said they will continue to work toward reducing the industry's carbon footprint.

Aviation is responsible for more than 2% of global emissions, according to the International Civil Aviation Organization, and the industry forecasts its emissions could rise by as much as 700% by 2050 as the sector continues to grow.

In order to achieve the sector's target--which consists of halving 2005's carbon-dioxide emission levels by 2050-- the CTOs said they will work on aircraft design and technology to improve fuel efficiency, support the commercialization of alternative and more sustainable aviation fuels, and develop new aircraft and propulsion technology.

Factors such as more efficient management of aircraft routing and air traffic will also be key in order to reduce the environmental impact of the industry, they said.

They added however that aviation will continue to rely on fossil fuels in the coming decades, and called for government support for technology development and production of sustainable aviation fuels.

Write to Maitane Sardon at [e-mail]

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

June 18, 2019 06:02 ET (10:02 GMT)

Copyright (c) 2019 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.