Story ID: 
KPMG Report: Aviation Struggling To Decarbonize
By: Charles Alcock
Caption: Governments need to give stronger incentives to increase sustainable aviation fuel production 
Word Count: 230
Governments and industries, including aviation, will fail to meet their legally-binding commitments to achieve net-zero carbon by 2050 if they persist in what a new report from consultants KPMG has dismissed as incremental changes. In the report, KPMG concluded that the aviation sector is moving too slowly and that “the goal of achieving net zero by 2050 hinges on significant increases in the production of sustainable aviation fuel, as well as government incentives.”
The NetZero Readiness Report 2023, published late last week, said the aviation sector finds it difficult to decarbonize quickly because of the long lead times in developing and delivering new aircraft. “2050 as the net-zero target is pretty much tomorrow for this sector,” said KPMG aviation strategy partner Christopher Brown.
The KPMG analysts also cast doubt on the aviation sector’s ability to increase SAF use at a sufficiently high rate quickly enough that it could completely replace jet-A, which they see as a necessity. “It looks like that task would be exceptionally difficult to deliver on,” said Malcolm Ramsay, the group’s global head of aviation. He called for governments to introduce stronger incentives for fuel producers to increase output to shift the supply-demand balance.
KPMG analysts suggested that governments and elected officials are hampered in pursuing net-zero goals by high levels of public debt, domestic political tensions, and opposition to decarbonization.