Air New Zealand is abandoning its 2030 science-based carbon target and withdrawing from the Science Based Targets initiative.  

The first major airline to do this, Air New Zealand put the decision down to the availability of new aircraft (there is an aviation backlog), the affordability and availability of alternative jet fuels, and global and domestic regulatory and policy support.

Air New Zealand CEO, Greg Foran says, "In recent months, and more so in the last few weeks, it has also become apparent that potential delays to our fleet renewal plan pose an additional risk to the target's achievability. As such and given so many levers needed to meet the target are outside our control, the decision has been made to retract the 2030 target and withdraw from the SBTi network immediately.”

The airline says that it has started work on a new near-term carbon emissions reduction target that could “better reflect the challenges” relating to aircraft and alternative jet fuel availability within the industry.

It remains committed to reaching its 2050 net-zero carbon emissions target.

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