Air New Zealand has removed its 2030 carbon intensity reduction target and will withdraw from the Science Based Targets initiative.

The reason for backpedalling on the plan, announced in 2022, are due to the lack of available new aircraft, the unavailability of  SAF as well as what is describes as ‘global and domestic regulatory and policy support’. It becomes the first major airline to abandon such targets.

A lack of SAF in the market, currently estimated to be below 0.5% of jet fuel produced, means that other airlines that have made similar commitments are likely to re-evaluate their targets.

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Air New Zealand Chief Executive Officer, 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. It is possible the airline may need to retain its existing fleet for longer than planned due to global manufacturing and supply chain issues that could potentially slow the introduction of newer, more fuel-efficient aircraft into the fleet. 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 insists that its policy of achieving net zero by 2050 remains in place.