Although grand action plan was designed at the aegis of ICAO as contained in the 2022 Carbon Offsetting and Reduction Scheme for International Aviation (CORSIA) to lead the global aviation industry to Net-zero emissions 2050 targets, as per the latest Sustainability State of the Industry Report released by Centre for Aviation (CAPA) and Envest Global, these plans have failed to convert into tangible collective actions so far.
According to the latest report, global aviation carbon emissions have risen by 10% since 2019, and 6.2% in the last two years alone. For the first time, carbon emissions from the aviation industry have crossed the 1 billion tonnes threshold in 2025. The report was prepared by profiling the top 100 airlines and airline groups globally by seat capacity.
As far as Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) usage and consumption was concerned, which is a big part of the Net Zero programme, it remained 0.7% of the total fuel usage by the top 100 airline companies of the world.
Interestingly, out of the 100 top airlines profiled, only 45 airlines in the world have reported SAF usage of any level. Approximately 1.9 million tonnes of SAF are reported to have been used by these airlines.
European carriers accounted for 70% of the consumption of SAF last year. Out of this, three largest airline groups of Europe, IAG, Air France-KLM and Lufthansa Group accounted for 40% of the users of SAF, as per the report. Among the full service carriers, British Airways became the top consumer of SAF of two lakh tonnes in a single year last year.
Among the airlines, Wizz Air was the most carbon-efficient airline at 45.5 gCO₂ per seat-km —
35% below the industry median. Among airports, Istanbul Sabiha Gökçen (SAW), topped as most carbon-efficient airport at 55 gCO₂ /ASK.
The slow pace of progress in aviation sustainability efforts is attributed to the destabilising impacts of global uncertainty and increasing geopolitical and geoeconomic confrontation. “While global collaboration and solidarity around aviation sustainability remains largely unimpacted by this fragmentation, cracks are becoming apparent elsewhere. International crises are slowing global economic growth, disrupting trade, closing borders, increasing supply chain pressures and unsettling financial markets. All of this reduces the resources that both countries and the air travel sector have to dedicate to developing climate
Solutions,” the report notes.
On a regional level, North American airlines’ emission intensity was 15% higher than the combined average of European, Asia Pacific, and South American airlines. On the other hand, Asia, as a region, showed the fastest rate of improvement in CO2/RPK of average 2.3% year on year since 2023, the report says.
As far as investing in emission mitigation measures, the report notes that an average airline would need 40–50% more revenue to maintain current profit margins while absorbing the cost of carbon removal — underscoring the scale of the financial challenge ahead.
As far as travellers participating in carbon offsetting programmes are concerned, the report says that it is stalled at 1% level even in the case of the best performing airline — a figure that correlates closely with the aviation industry’s overall SAF usage rate.