One of the ways the field is striving to replace traditional fossil jet fuels is by exploring the use of sustainable aviation fuels, or SAFs.
Justin Tallis | AFP | Getty Images
Farnborough, England – Airline executives at Britain’s Farnborough International Airshow are betting on the use of so-called sustainable aviation fuel To mitigate their climate impact, it said the technology is already available and could eventually be scaled up to help the industry reach net-zero emissions by 2050.
Campaigners are urging them to “get real”, however, dismissing plans on current development paths as “totally unrealistic”. Instead, demand management measures are seen as the most effective way for the aviation industry to reduce its near-term climate impact.
It comes as leaders in the aerospace and defense industries gather in extreme heat At the Farnborough International Airshow, the UK’s first major air show since the start of the COVID pandemic.
Thousands of people have gathered in southern England to discuss the future of aviation at a five-day trade exhibition that began on Monday.
Compared to other sectors, aviation is a relatively small contributor to global greenhouse gas emissions. Although, It is recognized as one of the fastest growing – and the number of flights is expected to increase at an alarming rate in the coming decades.
https://www.cnbc.com/2022/07/19/private-jet-use-is-more-popular-than-ever-and-first-time-buyers-are-dving-record-sales.htmlIf Aviation have to align themselves with Historic Paris Climate Agreement And to curb global warming, the industry will need to move away from fossil fuels entirely in the long term.
One of the ways the field is striving to replace traditional fossil jet fuels is by exploring the use of sustainable aviation fuels, or SAFs.
Chris Raymond, Chief Sustainability Officer Boeing, believes that SAFs will be an “essential component” in helping the industry achieve net-zero emissions by the middle of the century. “It’s not a bridge,” Raymond said in a press briefing on Monday. “SAF is needed. This is SAF and we do everything we can.”
Reflecting on Boeing’s vision for SAF by 2050, Raymond said, “These avenues to make these fuels will get better and cleaner as there is more renewable electricity.” [and] As the hydrogen source becomes more renewable we are making it more frequent with electrolysis and renewable energy grids.”
“It’s a spectrum that’s driving great innovation right now — and that’s all SAF,” Raymond said. “Think of it as imaginary pure as in the early days of SAF [power-to-liquid) SAF, made with nothing but green hydrogen from renewable electricity and direct air carbon capture.”
Not all alternative fuels are created equal
Sustainable aviation fuels, or SAF, are energy sources “made from renewable raw material,” according to aircraft maker Airbus. It says the most common feedstocks “are crops based or used cooking oil and animal fat.”
There are major concerns in some quarters that increased uptake of SAF could, among other things, result in substantial deforestation and create a squeeze on crops crucial to food production.
“The main thing to bear in mind that is not all SAF are created equal, and their sustainability fully depends on the sustainably of the feedstock that they are made from. With SAF, the devil is really in [the details]Matteo Mirolo, aviation policy officer in Transport and the Environment, told CNBC via telephone.
“The first thing we’re looking for, and I’m thinking of airlines in particular, is a recognition that the credibility of their SAF plans depends on making the right choices when it comes to the type of SAF or feedstock. They’re made of,” Mirolo said.
European lawmakers voted earlier this month to ban the use of controversial biofuel feedstocks from the EU’s aviation fuel green mandate, known as ReFuelEU. the decision was welcomed As a positive step towards making the region carbon-free and improving the reliability of the bloc’s climate plans.
“My view on this is that we should now move as fast as we can to introduce sustainable aviation fuels to grow this industry. This is really a way to reduce carbon emissions at the start of a 30-year tranche. Great opportunity. We’re talking about it,” Airbus CEO Guillaume Faury said Monday at a panel at the Farnborough International Airshow.
Fauri said the initial pivot to sustainable aviation fuels would rely primarily on bio-based aviation fuels, but they would eventually be replaced by “more refined” power-to-liquid fuels, or e-fuels.
“Maybe in the long run – several decades – we will find a very optimized way of sustainable energy but in transition, there is a faster way to use SAFs, and they are now available,” Faury said.
Huge increase in emissions ‘just not viable’
Norman Baker, campaign and policy advisor for the Campaign for Better Transport, was clear in his message to airline executives betting on SAF to reach net-zero emissions by 2050.
“They need to be real,” Baker told CNBC via telephone. “I don’t think SAF is sustainable. It’s a term used by the industry, like the tobacco companies used to talk about low-tar cigarettes.”
Campaigners say one of the main problems with relying on SAF to mitigate the climate impact of aviation in the long term is that it allows the industry to grow at rates inconsistent with the deepening climate crisis.
“Even if alternative fuels develop according to plan, and even if prices fall and availability increases, the idea that they are available to allow the industry to continue on its current growth path is going to happen is completely unrealistic,” Alethia Warrington, campaigner at climate charity Possible, told CNBC by telephone.
“It’s not viable right now to drastically increase emissions and hope you can magically fix it in a few decades’ time,” Warrington said. “It just won’t work.”