By Jamie Freed

SYDNEY, (Reuters) – Some airlines are at risk of failure if their carbon emission reductions don’t accelerate over the next 3 to 5 years. This is due to a mismatch in short-term corporate travel goals and the industry’s 2050 net zero goal.

The risk of shareholder activism is increasing for airlines at a moment when large fund managers, such as BlackRock Inc. (NYSE:), Vanguard Group Inc. and State Street Corp (NYSE: ) expressed public concern about climate change in Wednesday’s Envest Global report.

David Wills from Envest’s advisory director said that customers, governments, investors and others will likely press for an acceleration in the road to net zero. This is clear to exert pressure on airlines.

He stated that airlines can get into trouble and end up in an unfavorable situation.

Several companies, such as HSBC Holdings (NYSE:) plc, Zurich Insurance Group (OTC:) Ltd, Bain & Company and S&P Global (NYSE:) Inc, have already announced plans to quickly cut business travel emissions by as much as 70%.

Alan Joyce, Chief Executive of Qantas Airways stated last week that the airline had set a 2030 emission target.

Envest’s director of investment, Brett Mitsch stated that “smart airlines” will focus on strengthening their views not only in 2050 but also 2030.

CAPA/Envest’s report revealed that 52 international airlines had emitted on average 30% less passenger kilometers in 2019 than the lowest.

Wizz Air, Ryanair, and AirAsia were low-cost carriers that had newer fleets with higher load factors. British Airways was the least successful, followed by Turkish Airlines and Japan Airlines Co Ltd. (JAL).

Based on 2019, earnings JAL broke even at a carbon cost of $160 per ton, while other airlines that have lower profit margins could report a loss of $30 per ton.