In Short

• Hong Kong to Host IATA 2025 World Sustainability Symposium.
• Cathay Pacific to Host IATA 2025 Sustainability Symposium.

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) will hold its third World Sustainability Symposium (WSS) in Hong Kong on 21–22 October 2025, hosted by Cathay Pacific.

This is the first time the event will take place in Asia, and it will bring together leaders from aviation, energy, finance, and policy to discuss how the aviation industry can achieve net zero CO2 emissions by 2050.

One of the main topics will be the development of Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF). Cathay Pacific’s CEO, Ronald Lam, noted that collaboration across different sectors and governments is essential to achieve aviation’s decarbonisation goals, and that Hong Kong has the potential to become a major SAF hub in Asia.

Read More: Climate Technology: The Path to Net Zero and Sustainability

IATA’s Director General, Willie Walsh, said that although airlines are fully committed to reaching net zero by 2050, progress has been slowed by a lack of timely action from policymakers, aircraft manufacturers, oil companies, and fuel producers. The WSS is intended as a rallying point to overcome these challenges and speed up the energy transition.

The timing of the event is important. It will take place after the 42nd ICAO Assembly, where the industry will have pushed for stronger government policies to support SAF and uphold the CORSIA carbon offsetting scheme, and before COP30, which will focus on turning climate pledges into action. The symposium will serve as a bridge between these global milestones, exploring practical ways to:

• Remove barriers to SAF production
• Secure financing for the estimated $4.7 trillion cost of aviation decarbonisation
• Integrate new technologies from established companies and start-ups
• Increase cooperation across the aviation value chain

The event will feature a welcome speech from Ronald Lam, a keynote by Mable Chan, Hong Kong’s Secretary of Transport & Logistics, and a leadership discussion between Patrick Healy of Cathay Pacific and Willie Walsh. Other speakers will include figures from the Hong Kong Green Finance Association, Kuehne+Nagel, HSBC, WTW, and Infinium.

Also Read: Definitions of Sustainability: A to Z Guide on Sustainability

According to Marie Owens Thomsen, IATA’s Senior Vice President of Sustainability, the WSS is a platform for radical collaboration, uniting different sectors to find practical solutions. She said that aviation’s decarbonisation is part of a global energy transition that spans policy, energy, finance, agriculture, and technology, and must be approached holistically to achieve net zero by 2050.

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Source: IATA