IATA to Host Fourth World Sustainability Symposium in Brussels in October 2026
Why It MattersThe event signals sustained industry pressure on European regulators to align SAF, carbon-market and infrastructure policy with airline competitiveness and energy security goals.
The International Air Transport Association (IATA) will hold the fourth World Sustainability Symposium in Brussels on 13-14 October 2026, bringing together aviation executives, policymakers, energy producers, investors, technology specialists and researchers to discuss pathways to net-zero carbon emissions by 2050. The Brussels venue is notable because European regulations governing aviation fuels, carbon markets, infrastructure and industry competitiveness are shaped in the Belgian capital, and IATA argues some existing European policies do not fully account for the relationship between fuel availability, infrastructure investment risk, energy security and airline competitiveness.
A central theme will be scaling up sustainable aviation fuel (SAF), including hydroprocessed esters and fatty acids (HEFA), low-carbon aviation fuels and co-processing methods that incorporate renewable materials into conventional refinery operations, with wider adoption dependent on adequate feedstocks, expanded production capacity, competitive pricing and stable policy frameworks. Marie Owens Thomsen, IATA's Senior Vice President for Sustainability and Chief Economist, said the industry's biggest challenge is no longer a lack of ambition but the pace at which interdependent solutions can be developed and deployed, and that airlines cannot complete the energy transition alone.
The symposium will also examine how governments can design compatible policies to support transparent, competitive international markets for SAF, carbon credits and other decarbonisation tools, and will address sustainability across an aircraft's full lifecycle, including materials, manufacturing, operations, maintenance and end-of-service management. Sustainability leaders from IAG, Airbus, Schiphol Airport and Acelen Renewables are among confirmed contributors, and the symposium will be followed at the same venue by Wings of Change Europe on 15 October 2026, with registered participants receiving complimentary access.
