Clean Sky 2 achievement report : 2014 - 2024, a decade of innovation for a sustainable European aviation industry

By 2035, Europe aims to introduce its next generation of lower emission aircraft. This represents a crucial step towards decarbonising aviation by 2050. Following its launch in 2014, the Clean Sky 2 programme played a pivotal role in driving Europe's competitiveness in aviation. As a strategic industrial sector, aviation directly supports 15 million European jobs and contributes over one trillion euros to Europe's economy. The importance of this contribution can be better understood as equalling to 3.6% of all employment in Europe and 4.4% of the European Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Having said that, aviation also accounts for approximately 4% of CO2 emissions in the EU, making its decarbonisation essential in the fight against climate change. As the EU's flagship Public-Private Partnership for sustainable aeronautics, Clean Sky 2 delivered more than 581 patents and hundreds of breakthrough aviation technologies, thus playing a vital role in reducing CO 2 emissions by up to 30% and improving fuel efficiency. Over the course of its 10-year lifespan (2014-2024), the Clean Sky 2 programme brought together over 5,000 scientists/ engineers from all over Europe, from 1,000 entities throughout industry, research centres, universities and SMEs. It played a vital role in fostering a sector- wide cultural shift towards environmental consciousness and further strengthened Europe's commitment to aviation sustainability.