The key takeaways from the latest international aviation assembly 

The 42^nd International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) General Assembly closed on October 3, 2025, in Montreal.

During these triennial assemblies, delegations from up to 193 states convene to review and set ICAO priorities, budget and goals. This year’s Assembly has been particularly closely watched as it was the first meeting after the previous Assembly’s landmark commitment for international aviation to achieve net zero by 2050.

During the preceding General Assembly in 2022, ICAO had agreed on a Long-Term Aspirational Goal (LTAG) to achieve net-zero carbon emissions by 2050. It also consolidated the implementation of the Carbon Offsetting and Reduction Scheme for International Aviation (CORSIA) as the first global sectoral market-based scheme for international aviation, which has seen the pool of voluntary states’ participation increase from 88 in 2021 to 130 today.

With a shifting geopolitical context that has been de-prioritizing climate policies, concerns that international sustainable aviation ambitions might be toned down were legitimate. This triennial Assembly, however, demonstrated a global consensus on environmental topics and succeeded in reaffirming the commitment of ICAO Member States to the LTAG.

Non-sustainability items were also the Assembly’s core focus. To address emerging risks, such as recent air transport incidents, increased geopolitical tensions and armed conflicts, and the multiplication of new forms of cybersecurity threats, ICAO states committed to enhancing the global safety and security framework for aviation, in line with ICAO’s long-term aspiration of zero fatalities worldwide.

Following the adoption of the LTAG, the efforts of ICAO over the last three years have been focused on the implementation of pragmatic measures to achieve this goal. These include:

Airports Council International (ACI) World played a central role in ensuring that airports’ perspectives were fully represented in discussions shaping the future of global aviation, from air connectivity and passenger experience issues, to energy transition and sustainable economic growth. ACI World notably called on states to ensure that airports have access to sufficient reliable, renewable and affordable energy supplies. This appeal underscored the importance of coordinated national policies to help airports meet rising energy needs, while achieving long-term decarbonization targets. As aviation strives towards net-zero goals, ensuring airports can source renewable power is fundamental to maintaining resilient, efficient and sustainable operations.

No backtracking on current ambitions can already be considered as a positive message. Additionally, this assembly succeeded in endorsing ambitious progress to continue implementing the measures that will decarbonize the aviation sector.

The implementation of the Global Framework will be key for the future of sustainable fuels, by providing long-term, stable support to attract the necessary investments and demand needed to get them to scale.

On the back of this unaltered commitment, an increasing number of environmentally ambitious regions will likely continue to pursue and adopt decarbonization policies. This alignment is essential to avoid a global patchwork of varying sustainability ambitions.

In such a fragmented world of aviation decarbonization policies and a fiercer than ever competitive environment, the race to harmonize global sustainability policies has never felt more essential.

Within an increasingly shifting and unstable geopolitical environment, the international aviation community is increasingly flying through heavy crosswinds, but its flight path to net zero for the moment seems to have remained unaltered.