Destination Net Zero – Two Years On

The Aerospace Growth Partnership Strategy for Net Zero Aerospace

The AGP’s mission is to make the UK a world leader in the development and manufacture of the most sustainable aircraft technologies, where globally competitive businesses, supported by a strong national ecosystem, provide high quality jobs and growth throughout the UK.

In 2022, the AGP launched its strategy “Destination Net Zero”, at the Farnborough International Airshow. The strategy seeks to reduce the climate impact of aviation and secure the UK’s position as a world leader for the next era of flight. With the impetus to reduce the climate impact of aviation, the strategy focusses on decoupling aviation’s emissions from its growth – whilst continuing to contribute to the economic prosperity and global aerospace leadership of the UK.

Click here to download Destination Net Zero – Two Years On Document

Since 2022, the AGP has launched key initiatives to support the sector and advance the objectives of the AGP strategy:

• the ATI Programme has facilitated £676 million of joint industry and government R&D investment.
• In November 2022, the ATI launched the ‘ATI Hub’ aiming to diversify and strengthen the UK aerospace supply chain, support strategic innovation in emerging technology areas and provide tools and information to help smaller companies succeed in the sector.
• The Hydrogen Capability Network launched in April 2023, has identified key recommendations to accelerate the development of liquid hydrogen-powered flight in the UK focusing on infrastructure, skills, research and availability of LH2 for the UK.
• A new SME Programme providing up to £10 million a year to support cutting-edge SME aerospace research.
• A first of a kind non-CO2 Programme and Roadmap to support the action needed to reduce broader atmospheric emissions and further the understanding of aviation’s impact on the environment.
• The Strategic Aerospace Research Forum (SARF). This aims to create opportunities for greater interaction between industry, academia, key industrial partners such as catapults and other stakeholders across the UK R&D ecosystem, including the Government and national funding bodies.

Industry has also developed the Supply Chain Solutions (SCS) programme which provides support measures for innovation, competitiveness, sustainability and digitisation. The programme was launched at the Farnborough International Airshow in 2022 with a target of 200 companies actively participating in the programme by September 2024 and we are on track to exceed this target. 359 companies have been nominated and we have 198 active participants in the programme. We aim to have 300 active companies by the end of July 2025.

Delivered in collaboration between industry and the UK trade body ADS, the SCS programme has also developed the comprehensive Supply Chain Solutions ESG Pathway to guide organisations towards achieving sustainability and embedding ESG, including the measurement and reduction of Scope 1 and 2 emissions through a step-by-step Green House Gas Reporting Guide and an on online ESG Assessment Tool, providing organisations with a detailed report of their ESG maturity and next steps.

The ATI has also launched a new SME Programme in November 2023, targeting cutting-edge SME aerospace research projects to advance more sustainable aviation and boost high-skilled jobs. Worth up to £10m a year, the programme supports projects and partnerships that will unlock the growth potential of the UK’s aerospace supply chain. Programmes such as SCS, the ATI’s SME programme and ATI Hub and ADS’ ESG assessment tool, the UK’s aerospace supply chain is investing to improve and remain globally competitive in an environmental way.

Critical to the aerospace innovation needed are of course the people who have the skills to drive it. To allow the Aerospace industry to meet current and the future opportunities of sustainable flight, we are building a highly skilled, diverse, and dynamic workforce underpinned by a strong academic base. As organisations of all sizes prepare for ramp-ups and new programmes, they are facing capacity challenges related to attracting and retaining skilled talent. This issue is global and facing numerous sectors. However, the UK aerospace sector is undertaking action to address this and secure its current and future global market share. A key part of this work is attracting new talent to the sector whilst retaining and retraining existing talent.

To build a resilient, capable and skilled workforce of the future, industry is delivering the following:

Identifying and Developing Future Skills: Industry, in partnership with the ATI’s Hydrogen Capability Network, is currently running a series of workshops to identify the Future Skills required to support the next era of flight. By utilising expertise from across the wide UK Aerospace ecosystem, including academia, catapults and other organisations, these sessions aim to capture the different skills; proficiency levels; and workforce volumes demanded from industry to deliver its ambitions. The thematic workshops focus on aerostructures, aircraft systems, different types of aircraft propulsion and other cross-sector enablers. The outcomes of this activity will help to define priorities for the development of educational and skilling pathways, supporting new workforce development.

Positioning Aerospace as an Industry of Choice: In addition to the Future Skills mapping, industry in partnership with our trade association ADS, are also defining an industry-wide employment branding campaign for the aerospace sector which aims to increase the sector’s ability to attract and compete for talent, by making Aerospace a destination of choice for candidates in target recruitment populations.

In addition to the above, since 2022, the Jon Dennison Bursary has also supported  more than 140 students, and in 2024/25 the Bursary is expected to support almost 60 students in pursuing their interest in aerospace engineering.

Click here to download the Destination Net Zero document

The Aerospace Growth Partnership

The AGP is a strategic partnership between government and the UK aerospace industry, established in 2010, to tackle barriers to growth, boost competitiveness and exports and grow the number of high value jobs in the UK. It brings together industry, governments, and key ecosystem partners and stakeholders including UK academia, the High Value Manufacturing Catapults, representative regional and local bodies including the Regional Aerospace Alliances.

The AGP’s mission is to make the UK a world leader in the development and manufacture of the most sustainable aircraft technologies, where globally competitive businesses, supported by a strong national ecosystem, provide high quality jobs and economic growth throughout the UK.