Destination Net Zero

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.

The new AGP strategy “Destination Net Zero”, launched at the Farnborough International Airshow 2022, 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.

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This will be achieved through innovation and collaboration across research and development, design, supply chains, manufacturing value chains, and a plan of action to ensure an appropriately skilled workforce. The strategy is underpinned by a joint industry and government commitment to achieve net zero UK aerospace by 2050. 

The strategy anchors a commitment from industry and government to co-invest at least £1.37bn in research and development from 2022 to 2025, through the Aerospace Technology Institute (ATI), to drive further efficiency of aircraft technologies and accelerating the development of ultra-low and zero emissions technologies. The commitment is set to unlock and secure at least £20bn of further private investment to 2040 to industrialise and deliver ATI-funded technology in the UK whilst increasing overall civil aerospace R&D investment from 2019 levels. 

A new Strategic Aerospace Research Forum will drive collaboration across the research community, supporting industry to progress technology readiness. The Forum will bring together leading aerospace companies, the High Value Manufacturing Catapults, UK academia, government departments as well as funding bodies and agencies. The Future Flight Challenge, announced in 2018, will also continue to bring together technologies in electrification, aviation systems and autonomy to create new modes of air travel and capability.

The strategy reaffirms the need for a robust UK supply chain to industrialise technology developments in the UK and sees the launch of a new industry-funded supplier development programme. Led by ADS, and with support from industry and regional partners, the programme will support continuous improvement of suppliers, and is expected to deliver the equivalent of up to £15 million in improvement activities in the first three years. A new ADS Sustainability Solutions programme will support the strategy by helping aerospace businesses measure, report and reduce Scope emissions, with a focus on significantly reducing scope 1 and scope 2 greenhouse gas emissions from the sector by 2030. Sharing in Growth, with contributions from Rolls-Royce, will also continue to support suppliers in their improvement journey with about £14 million worth of support activities over the next three years.

SMEs are crucial to the future of aviation and the strategy sets out continued support to small businesses and suppliers through the ATI programme over the next three years. These interventions are estimated by the ATI to potentially help double aerospace’s contribution to the UK economy to at least £17 billion GVA per year by 2035 from around £8 billion contribution in 2021.

The strategy also sets out a plan of action to identify and deliver the skilled workforce required to support the next era of flight. This includes a skills foresighting process to identify and deliver current and future skills, a review of the sector’s STEM engagement, and doing more to drive diversity and inclusion in the sector, including building on the work of the Women in Aviation Charter.

With further funding support from industry, the Jon Dennison Bursary will also continue to 2024-25. Over the next three years the bursary is expected to support over 200 young people to pursue their interest in an aerospace engineering career. Administered through EDT and part of the Aerospace Industrial Cadet Programme (AICP), the bursary aims to support young people from disadvantaged backgrounds to pursue their interest in an aerospace engineering career

The ATI estimates that continued investment through this strategy is expected to increase sector employment in the UK to 120,000 by 2035 and 135,000 to 2050, from 110,000 currently. The industry also seeks to create 25,000 total new apprenticeship starts in aerospace between 2022 and 2030.

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.