Responsible for some of the world's carbon dioxide emissions, air travel dumped 915 million tons of global warming-causing gas in the atmosphere in 2019, according to the Air Transport Action Group. To reduce this carbon footprint, sustainability agency Green Gumption created a climate goals report for the aviation industry in 2000. However, the industry failed in the mission: according to a study by the charity Possible, only one of the 50 goals was effectively met.

The researchers concluded that setting climate goals is actually a smokescreen for the usual business. According to the analysis, almost all have been lost, revised or silently ignored in the last two decades. "They seem to function primarily as a tactic to give an impression of progress and action to address the environmental impacts of aviation to the public and policymakers in order to avoid any political barriers to the continued growth of the sector," the report says.

Possible points out that the findings undermine a UK government plan to let airlines reduce their emissions through self-regulation, such as by carbon offset their flights.

"This investigation shows just how implausible and credulous the government's net-zero strategy is. How can we credily expect this industry to overcome emissions reductions when it has never met any of its previous climate goals?" said Leo Murray, director of innovation at Possible, to The Guardian.

Currently, it is estimated that 15% of people make 70% of all global flights. "It is clear that we need to require reduction through a frequent flyer fee, which would discourage the flights of a small group of people who make up most of the aircraft emissions," Murray added.

According to the researchers, unclear definitions, lack of monitoring and inconsistent reports made it difficult to evaluate goals over time, with many also being altered, replaced or discarded within the study period. Moreover, even if the targets were met, many were insufficiently ambitious to reduce the climate impact of the aviation industry.

This is the case of Virgin Atlantic, one of the UK's largest airlines, which has set a target of reducing CO2 by 30% per tonne by 2020. In a 2014 sustainability report, the company achieved only 8% of its target and admitted, "We are almost half the time and we know we need to accelerate the pace." In 2020, in a new Virgin report, there was no mention of the 2020 target and by 2021, a company press release announced a new target of 15% gross CO2 reduction by 2026.

In defence, a spokesman for the UK government's Department for Transport told The Guardian: "This report deliberately ignores historical investment in technology, fuel and market-based measures that will help us reach zero jet by 2050 without the need for further taxes. This includes £180 million to accelerate sustainable aviation fuel and £685 million to develop zero-carbon and low-emission aircraft technology."