The 193-nation International Civil Aviation Organization's (ICAO) assembly, held every three years, is the first since COVID-19 put pressure on policymakers to speed up reforms.
"We have to do something," Emile Nguza Arao, director general of Kenya's Civil Aviation Authority, told Reuters.
Officials hope a global target will boost supplies of new Sustainable Aviation Fuel and encourage private investment.
Even then, aviation is expected to remain in the cross-hairs of climate groups who see the exercise as a smokescreen.
"A long-term emissions reduction goal with no enforceability plan is dead on arrival," said Jo Dardenne, aviation director at Brussels-based Transport & Environment.