At the third annual Aviation and Environment Summit in Geneva April 22 and 23, 2008, airlines, airports, and aircraft makers pledged for the first time to cut their emissions.

More than 100 airports (including the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which operate John F Kennedy International, Newark, La Guardia, Stewart, Teterboro airports), aircraft manufacturers (including Boeing, Airbus and Pratt & Whitney), eight airlines (including Virgin and KLM of the Netherlands), eight air traffic control providers and five international airlines organizations officially endorsed a declaration committing themselves to “a pathway to carbon neutral growth and … a carbon-neutral future.”

As part of a “four-pillar strategy” outlined in the declaration and unanimously endorsed at the 2007 International Civil Aviation Organization Assembly, the partners agree, and urge all governments to support their efforts, to “push forward the development and implementation of new technologies, including cleaner fuels; further optimize the fuel efficiency of our fleet and the way we fly aircraft and manage ground operations; improve air routes, air traffic management and airport infrastructure; and implement positive economic instruments to achieve greenhouse gas reductions wherever they are cost-effective.”

Airlines are under a lot of pressure from the EU to cut their emissions. U.S. airlines have been warned that they must join the EU emissions trading scheme or an equivalent system in the U.S. or they could face fewer flights to the European Union.

Read more about what airlines are doing to cut emissions here.