Cross-party MPs on the UK Parliament’s Environmental Audit Committee have welcomed government policy steps to scale up and support new technologies, zero carbon aircraft and domestic sustainable aviation fuel production in efforts to reach a sectoral target of net zero emissions by 2050. However, its Net Zero Aviation report just published expresses a number of concerns over the government’s Jet Zero Strategy and notes its high ambition scenario needs to be followed through with “vigour and the appropriate priority” for delivery or risks the UK falling behind in its emissions reduction targets, leaving other sectors to pick up the slack. The Committee calls on the government to undertake an early review of progress by the end of 2025 and to urgently consider further demand management measures should reductions fall short of prediction. The government must also carry through on its legislative promise to include international aviation emissions in the national carbon budgets, they say. The MPs welcome the establishment of a mandate for SAF use and call for swift progress on introducing a revenue certainty mechanism to support SAF developers. Meanwhile, a group of NGOs has written to the government seeking assurances that such a mechanism would be funded by the aviation industry and not the taxpayer.

Commenting on its report, a member of the Committee, Jerome Mayhew MP, said aviation’s decarbonisation path was substantially slower than that of many other sectors of the economy and would require a number of different initiatives to make a tangible impact.

“First, the correct legislation needs to be in place. Despite promises over the years, the government is yet to include aviation emissions in its carbon budgets, which monitor progress in the UK’s emissions reduction policies,” he said. “Second, we must support industry in developing new technologies and fuels, and provide the right certainty and definitions for what can be coined a ‘sustainable aviation fuel’. These new technologies must not only reduce CO2 emissions, but take into account and mitigate other environmental impacts associated with aviation. And finally, we must champion UK innovation on zero carbon aircraft here at home for UK flights.”

In 2019, the UK’s aviation emissions amounted to 37.8 MtCO2e – 36.4 MtCO2e from outgoing international flights and 1.4 MtCO2e from domestic flights – together accounting for 8% of total UK GHG emissions. Having fallen substantially during the pandemic, emissions are expected to climb as traffic recovers to pre-pandemic levels, potentially this coming year. The government’s independent advisory Climate Change Committee (CCC) predicted in 2019 that unabated, aviation was likely to be the largest emitting sector in the UK by 2050, consuming 36% of the available carbon budget.

The CCC’s projections for 2050 under its ‘balanced net zero pathway’ modelling envisage aviation contributing 23 MtCO2e to the UK’s emissions, set against a baseline of 51 MtCO2e. The reduction of 28 MtCO2e comprises a contribution of 12 MtCO2e from demand management, 8 MtCO2e from SAF and 8 MtCO2e from efficiency measures and hybrid fuels. This was based on a number assumptions, including that by 2050 demand would have grown by no more than 25% relative to a 2018 baseline, the sector would improve its efficiency by 1.40% annually to 2050 and by the same year, 17% of UK aviation fuel would be from biofuel and 8% from synthetic fuel.

By contrast, the government’s own modelling, which underpins its Jet Zero Strategy assumptions, projects traffic demand would rise by 70% by 2050, airline fuel efficiency would increase 2% annually between 2017 and 2050, and SAF would be providing 10% of aviation fuel by 2030, 22% by 2040 and 50% by 2050.

Through its Sustainable Aviation body, the UK aviation industry’s modelling shows different projections from both those of the government’s and the CCC’s, with a much higher forecast of unabated aviation emissions but markedly more optimistic contributions from new fuels and technological efficiencies in aircraft fleets, including zero-emission aircraft. As a result, the industry’s projection of the 2050 ‘emissions gap’ – residual emissions unable to be mitigated by action within the aviation sector – appears far lower than the CCC and government estimates, notes the EAC report, which recommends the government work with the CCC and Sustainable Aviation on a comparative analysis in order to reach a consensus.

Over two and a half years after promising to bring legislation to include international aviation emissions in the UK’s Sixth Carbon Budget target by 2037, the MPs recommend the government lay before Parliament a draft statutory instrument “without further delay”.

The government has committed to five-yearly reviews of progress against the Jet Zero Strategy’s targets, which, on the current timetable, would make the first review in 2027, which the EAC believes is too late.

“We recommend that an initial review of the Jet Zero Strategy and the modelling underlying its ‘high ambition’ scenario be undertaken no later than the end of 2025, with a view to determining whether the Strategy remains on track to meet the interim emissions reductions projected for 2020 and 2040, as well as the overall reductions projected for 2050,” says its report, which adds that it should be with the active engagement of the industry.  

“Should the evidence of the review indicate that technological measures alone will not deliver the emissions reductions predicted, we recommend that ministers reconsider the role of demand management measures in aviation emissions policy. In preparation for the outcome of that review, we recommend that the government develop policy proposals on demand reduction, including consideration of greater use of digital technologies, reducing the cost of rail travel and a frequent flyer levy, should these then by required.”

The MPs on the Committee were encouraged by the research and development taking place in the UK on zero emission flight technologies, recognising their deployment is realistically likely to be restricted to short-haul flights for the foreseeable future. They recommend the government establishes a target under the Jet Zero Strategy for the full roll-out of zero-emission aircraft on a minimum number of routes essential to UK connectivity by 2040. When promoting research into the non-CO2 effects of aviation, the government should also include the funding of research into the effects on the atmosphere and climate of aircraft using zero-emission flight technologies.

The Committee welcomes the initiatives taken so far by the government to establish a domestic industry for the manufacture of SAF and its efforts to build long-term supply chains internationally, and also the criteria restricting the feedstocks to be used in UK-manufactured SAF and specifying that feedstocks are not to be obtained from land with high biodiversity value or land with high carbon stocks.

However, it is concerned about the broad definition of what is considered ‘sustainable’ and in the absence of a global standard for SAF, that this might lead to the development of aviation fuels that cannot credibly be described as such.

“We recommend that the government takes every opportunity to establish in its policy instruments for a UK SAF industry the strongest safeguards to ensure significant lifecycle emissions savings from the use of SAF developed in the UK,” says the report. “We further recommend that ministers and officials work vigorously at ICAO and in all other relevant international bodies for the establishment of a global regulatory standard for SAF which is comprehensive and rigorous.”

It also calls for “swift progress” on the implementation of a price support mechanism to incentivise investment for new SAF production pathways.

“The Committee’s report sets out clearly what the government must be prioritising, and I look forward to receiving its response,” said Mayhew.

A group of ten NGOs is also looking for a response to a letter they have sent to UK transport ministers urging the government to follow through with its intention that a SAF price support, or revenue certainty, mechanism should be funded solely by industry. The group, which includes Greenpeace, Opportunity Green, Transport & Environment and the Aviation Environment Federation, seek clarification that all the costs of such a scheme are entirely funded by the aviation sector and that existing or future taxes or revenues that flow to the Treasury, such as Air Passenger Duty or from the UK ETS, should not be earmarked for the fund. Given that the majority of British people did not fly, it would be “grossly unfair” for taxpayers to cover the funding costs, they argue.

“At no point should there be any potential for Treasury money to be used to cover any scheme costs; the scheme should be administered by a body that is not the Treasury, similar to how the Low Carbon Contracts Company operates regarding renewable energy generation,” says the letter.

The aim of the proposed revenue certainty mechanism is to lower the risk of new SAF production projects in the UK by guaranteeing investors a degree of price predictability. The government expects to complete a short consultation process in the first half of 2024, with a view to drafting new legislation and then delivery of the scheme by the end of 2026.

Photo: The UK government helped fund the Virgin Atlantic 100% SAF flight in November 2023

Christopher Surgenor

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In its latest progress report to Parliament, the UK’s independent advisory Climate Change Committee says continued unconstrained capacity expansion at UK airports is putting at risk the government’s net zero emissions target. The Committee has previously recommended there should be no net airport expansion across the UK but notes UK airports have increased their capacities and continue to develop expansion proposals. Unless aviation’s carbon intensity is outperforming the government’s pathway and can accommodate this additional demand, it says, no airport expansions should proceed until a UK-wide capacity management framework is in place to annually assess and, if required, control sector CO2 emissions and non-CO2 effects. Making up 7% of all UK emissions, estimated aviation emissions in 2022 were 29 MtCO2e, up 95% from 2021, but still 25% below 2019 levels.

The longer term historical trend shows a gradual increase in emissions due to rising demand for long-haul flights only partly being compensated for by improved efficiencies. “Overall, our aviation indicators are not showing progress that can be attributed to policy implementation,” says the Committee’s report.

The UK government’s Jet Zero Strategy for achieving net zero emissions from UK aviation by 2050, published in July 2022, recommitted to 70% passenger demand growth by 2050 on 2018 levels. However, its reliance on nascent technology, especially rapid SAF uptake and aircraft, is a high-risk approach, warns the Committee.

“The government does not have a policy framework in place to ensure that emissions reductions in the aviation sector occur if these technologies are not delivered on time and at sufficient scale,” it points out and says demand management is the most effective way of reducing aviation CO2 and non-CO2 emissions. The range of options to manage demand available to the government, it suggests, include digital technologies, addressing private flying and providing lower-cost domestic rail travel.

“The government should develop a suite of policy and technology options to address aviation demand,” it advises. The capacity management framework should be developed by the Department for Transport in cooperation with the devolved UK administrations over the next 12 months “and should be operational by the end of 2024 at the latest.”

The Committee’s own forecasts assume a 2-3% uptake of sustainable aviation fuel  by 2030, while the government is expected to adopt a much more ambitious 10% target under its SAF mandate, which the Committee says is both delayed and dependent on an uncertain domestic and global feedstock supply.

“The government must build in contingency and risk management into the SAF mandate to prepare for the possibility of constrained domestic and global SAF supply throughout the 2020s and 2030s,” it states, and also recommends the government commits to a minimum goal of no further additional warming after 2050 from non-CO2 effects.

Commenting on the report, the Committee’s outgoing Chairman, Lord Deben, said: “In present circumstances, there can be no question of allowing unconstrained airport expansion. The government has placed all the emphasis on new technologies, but we must not forget aviation demand. I’d urge the government to reconsider its recent Jet Zero Strategy.”

In a briefing to journalists, he added: “We have to make it quite clear to government that you cannot allow emissions growth from aviation beyond what we have already said. At the moment, it seems open ended in that capacity can be expanded at one airport but nothing done to reduce it elsewhere. There needs to be a clear statement from government about what it means in practical terms, rather than the present situation.”

Responding to the report, Cait Hewitt, Policy Director of UK campaign group Aviation Environment Federation, said: “This is the Committee’s strongest ever advice on airport expansion. But in fact they’ve been telling the government for years to get a grip on aviation demand. Instead, the official strategy allows unlimited growth in flying in the hope that new technologies and fuels will save the day.

“We can’t sit back and wait to see if these magic planes will appear on the market while building in expansions that will allow for more and more fossil-powered flying. The government’s ‘jet zero’ plans are already falling apart – it’s recently had to admit that it has no idea how to get enough sustainable feedstock to meet its targets to make aircraft fuel out of wastes and we’ve yet to see any proposals for ramping up aircraft efficiency improvements.

“The government needs to stop giving in to the aviation industry’s insatiable demands for growth and recognise that in a climate emergency, all sectors of the economy need to start doing things differently.”

The Airport Operators Association, which represents 40 UK airports, said it disagreed with the Committee’s recommendation on airport expansion.

“The aviation industry and the UK government both have a plan in place for UK aviation to achieve net-zero by 2050 while still accommodating growth in air travel in that same time frame. Banning airport expansion now, in the way suggested would damage the UK’s economic future and deter investment from the UK,” said Chief Executive Karen Dee.

“What is needed, rather than focusing on preventing people flying, is policies and measures which enable change: for example through modernising airspace, supporting and requiring the use of sustainable aviation fuel, and supporting the development and deployment of hydrogen and electric flight. By adopting this approach, we can deliver our net-zero ambitions while also ensuring people can continue to enjoy the many and varied benefits that aviation delivers.”

Previous recommendations from the Committee that have been adopted by the government include aviation emissions from international flights being included in the UK’s net zero target and, from 2033, included in the legally-binding UK carbon budgets.

Photo: London Gatwick Airport is preparing a planning application to bring its northern runway into regular use, for departures, alongside its main runway

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Two new reports have highlighted the considerable costs and logistics of transitioning air transport to novel propulsion aircraft, both emphasising the need for urgent action to enable the switch. A report by the World Economic Forum (WEF) as part of its Target True Zero initiative indicates that by 2050, the aviation industry will need to invest between $700 billion and $1.7 trillion to provide sufficient infrastructure for hydrogen, battery-electric and hybrid-electric aircraft. It argues the foundation elements must be in place by 2025 and says new partnerships are essential between the aviation sector and energy suppliers. A parallel report by European advocacy group Transport & Environment (T&E) says hydrogen-powered aircraft will cost 8% more to operate than fossil-fuelled planes but could be 2% cheaper from 2035 if their development is supported by government incentives, funded through taxes on conventional jet fuel and a price on carbon. “These pricing measures are key to the deployment of green technologies like hydrogen planes,” says T&E.

The WEF report was produced with the support of McKinsey and Partners, the Aviation Environment Federation and the Aviation Impact Accelerator of the University of Cambridge to help quantify challenges involved in the transition to new propulsion technologies. It estimates that by 2050, battery-electric and hydrogen-powered aircraft could comprise between 21% and 38% of total fleets, and require 15% to 34% of the industry’s total energy needs.

Of this power, says WEF, between 89% and 96% would be needed for hydrogen-powered aircraft, with the remaining 4% to 11% for battery-electric turboprops, regional jets and small narrowbody planes. The introduction of hydrogen and electric propulsion would also require separate infrastructure value chains and necessitate production of power away from airports, which would not have sufficient land for the energy infrastructure. “The investments needed to meet 2050 alternative-propulsion-related infrastructure goals must start now,” stresses the report, with the first elements required to be in place by 2025.

“Getting infrastructure right will be critical in allowing this new industry to take off – whether that means ‘on-airport’ infrastructure, such as chargers and refuellers, or ‘off-airport’ infrastructure, such as producing enough green electricity,” write McKinsey Partner Robin Riedel and WEF Climate Head Pedro Gomez in their foreword to the report. “There is a great deal at stake in getting this transition right. Collaboration across geographies, industries and stakeholders is critical to fast-track aviation’s trajectory towards a more sustainable future.”  

The sheer volume of energy needed to power the emerging generation of novel propulsion aircraft is identified by WEF as a key challenge in the transition to zero-emission commercial flights. Globally by 2050, it estimates alternative propulsion systems could need between 600 and 1,700 terrawatt hours of clean energy, “which is equivalent to the energy generated by around 10 to 25 of the world’s largest wind farms, or a solar farm the size of Belgium.”

As well, to power alternative propulsion aircraft, the WEF report says airports will need to massively increase their on-site energy use, with battery-electric and hydrogen-powered fleets each needing their own energy infrastructure. “For an airport that is a large hub looking to invest in on-site hydrogen liquefaction and charging for battery-electric powered aircraft, total on-site electricity consumption for terminals, ground support and other uses could be between 1,250 and 2,450 gigawatt hours per year, which is about five to 10 times more electricity than London Heathrow currently consumes.”

Producing new power would also present a major challenge, for while most airports would have room to develop hydrogen liquefaction and storage infrastructure, they would have nowhere near enough land for infrastructure to generate the clean energy required to power battery-electric or hydrogen aircraft.

“While airports have been touted as possible energy hubs, the scale of energy demand for alternative propulsion will make it extremely difficult to perform all energy production at airports,” says the report. “If Paris Charles De Gaulle Airport is used as an example of a major international hub, it would require approximately 5,800 hectares of solar panels to generate sufficient electricity to meet its demands under the Mission Possible Partnership’s prudent scenario. This far exceeds the size of the airport itself, which now occupies 3,300 hectares.”

The report says transition to novel propulsion aircraft would require capital investment of between $700 billion and $1.7 trillion by 2050, around 90% of which would be for off-airport infrastructure, mainly to generate power and for hydrogen electrolysis and liquefaction. On-airport infrastructure, which comprises the remaining 10%, will total “a more modest” $66 billion to $114 billion by 2050.

“Capital expenditures in green power generation for aviation alone would double the current projections for global airport capital infrastructures, $1.68 trillion by 2040 at $84 billion per year,” it calculates. “This makes it almost certain that aviation players will need to form partnerships with companies in other industries, such as energy providers and those in hydrogen-consuming industries, to secure the required investment. 

“The investments needed to meet 2050 alternative-propulsion-related infrastructure goals must start now. The first elements of on-airport infrastructure must be in place by 2025 to meet the expected energy demand.”

The report’s authors also say operators of alternative propulsion should expect to pay between 76% and 86% more than the market price for renewable electricity, pricing which reflects additional costs of operating aviation infrastructure.

The report commissioned by Transport & Environment, and produced by research group Steer, concludes hydrogen-powered jets could be operated less expensively than fossil fuel-powered aircraft from 2035 “provided kerosene is taxed adequately”.

It says: “In 2035, running planes on hydrogen could be 8% more expensive than using kerosene. But with a tax on fossil jet fuel and a price on carbon, hydrogen planes could become 2% cheaper to operate than their kerosene counterparts. These pricing measures are key to the deployment of green technologies like hydrogen planes.”

The T&E analysis shows that by 2050, deployment of hydrogen aircraft for intra-Europe flights would cost €299 billion ($320bn), of which only 5% (€15 billion) would be for the development of hydrogen planes. “This relatively small upfront cost must, however, happen before 2035, or risk jeopardising the success of these new planes.”

The balance of the cost would be outside the aviation sector, with green hydrogen production accounting for €161 billion, or 54%, then hydrogen liquefaction at 23%, hydrogen infrastructure at airports (12%) and distribution of the fuel to airports (6%).

T&E highlights the commitment by Airbus to launch hydrogen-powered aircraft by 2035, but said the airframer had since warned of delays due to slow development of hydrogen infrastructure.

“Building these planes is feasible,” said T&E’s aviation technical manager Carlos Lopez de la Osa, “but if we want Airbus to walk the talk, we’ll need to create a market for zero emission aircraft by taxing fossil jet fuel and mandating zero emission planes in the future. “For hydrogen planes to take off in the next decade, we need to enter the virtuous circle of regulation, investment and a fall in prices, followed by stronger uptake. But the cost must be shouldered by the aviation industry and its users by ring-fencing part of carbon and kerosene tax revenues for green tech like zero emission planes and clean fuels.”

Image: The Airbus ZEROe concept hydrogen-powered aircraft

A report by low carbon energy consultants Element Energy (EE) analysing the UK government’s ‘Jet Zero’ strategy to hit net zero aviation emissions by 2050, with interim reduction targets for the 2030s, concludes the scenarios are over-optimistic. The report, commissioned by UK campaign group the Aviation Environment Federation, concludes acting early by halting airport capacity growth along with implementing other demand reduction measures pose a far less risky approach to reaching the targets. EE estimates the aviation sector will need to cut emissions faster and deeper in the near term than the government is currently projecting. The government’s plans overestimate the likely improvements in operations, technology and alternative fuels, along with out-of-sector solutions such as engineered GHG removals, and are unlikely to be developed at the speed and scale necessary, it argues. AEF, meanwhile, has joined with other NGOs in calling on the government to withdraw its policy support for UK airport expansion until aviation emissions start falling and wider emissions are “substantially below” a 1.5°C-compliant trajectory.

Despite aviation demand – in terms of UK terminal passengers – being forecast to increase by over 70% in the latest government assumptions between 2018 and 2050 under its High Ambition scenario, aviation is expected to be one of only two sectors (the other being agriculture) still to have residual emissions in 2050, with very high-cost carbon removals required to mitigate this. As laid out in its Jet Zero further technical consultation in March 2022, possible trajectories by the UK Department for Transport (DfT) show in-sector CO2e emissions of 36Mt in 2030, 28Mt in 2040 and 15Mt in 2050, or net CO2e emissions of 24-29Mt in 2030, 12-17Mt in 2040 and 0Mt in 2050. The latest government statistics show international aviation emissions in pre-pandemic 2019 amounted to 37MtCO2e, which have more than doubled since 1990, with a further 1.5MtCO2e from domestic flights.

As part of its net zero by 2050 commitment, the UK aviation industry last year announced interim decarbonisation targets of a net reduction in emissions by “at least” 15% by 2030, relative to 2019, and a 40% net reduction by 2040 as, said its Sustainable Aviation cross-sector alliance, “with the pace of decarbonisation ramping up as game-changing sustainable aviation fuels, permanent carbon removal, and new low and zero-carbon technologies – such as electric and hydrogen-powered aircraft – become mainstream in the 2030s.”

However, the report by Element Energy says the High Ambition scenario “is over-reliant on emerging high-risk technologies and uncertain policy in the forecasting of the emission abatements in 2035.” Key risk factors, it says, include a slow-down in aerospace R&D spend post-Covid that makes it unlikely efficiency improvements will achieve a step-change growth of 2.0% annually from 1.5% historic levels. It is also pessimistic about the higher levels of SAF demand required by 2035 to meet the High Ambition scenario and questions as misleading the 100% emissions savings assumed from SAF. In addition, it criticises the exclusion of aviation non-CO2 effects as substantially underestimating aviation’s warming impact.

It also says the scenario sees a substantial emissions abatement in 2050 relying on CORSIA carbon pricing on long-haul flights reaching ETS levels, which it believes is unlikely. CORSIA, ICAO’s global carbon offsetting scheme for international aviation, is currently designed to end in 2035.

“Overall, it is unclear how DfT plans to deliver these high rates of technological improvements, SAF uptake and aircraft efficiencies,” says the report. “Expanding carbon pricing, with EE estimations suggesting that only about 17% of total aviation emissions are currently priced, would also be essential to support the rapid uptake of new technologies by airlines but would rely on breakthroughs at ICAO in terms of the level of ambition in CORSIA and future arrangements for a market-based measure after 2035.”

EE says relying on greenhouse gas removals is also risky and argues “they should only be deployed once both technological and behaviour change options to reduce emissions have been exhausted.”

It suggests demand management policies could take several forms, including reducing passenger demand for flying through carbon pricing, an air miles or frequent flyer levy, applying VAT or reforms to Air Passenger Duty, and restricting the availability of flights through management of airport capacity. Additional non-financial behaviour change interventions could include improved marketing of domestic tourism opportunities and consumer information about the CO2 impacts of flights.

“Constraining demand now through airport capacity is far easier and more reliable than allowing capacity and demand to grow and then rapidly trying to reduce demand in the future through pricing mechanisms,” says EE. “We conclude that there should be no airport expansion until and unless it is clear that both in-sector (aircraft technology) and out-of-sector (carbon removal) emissions reductions are on track to meet a fair emissions reduction for 2035 and beyond.”

Commenting on the findings, Cait Hewitt, Policy Director at the Aviation Environment Federation, said: “The government’s plan is to sit back and allow both airports and emissions to grow in the short term while hoping for future technologies and fuels to save the day. This new report gives a damning appraisal of the level of risk in every aspect of the current approach to aviation emissions and highlights the need for action now, including ruling out airport expansion and limiting demand, to ensure aviation makes a fair contribution to cutting emissions by 2035 and is on a pathway to net zero by 2050.”

On the back of the report, AEF and six other environmental NGOS – AirportWatch, Friends of the Earth, Green Alliance, Greenpeace, Possible and Transport & Environment – have written an open letter to Aviation Minister Robert Court that calls on the government to withdraw its support for airport expansion in the UK. The letter also expresses concern over the assumptions the government’s Jet Zero draft strategy makes on increases in sustainable fuels and carbon removals occurring after 2030, “but with no clear policy plan to ensure they are delivered.”

Photo: Heathrow Airport

The UK’s aviation industry has set new interim decarbonisation targets on its way to a goal of net zero emissions by 2050. The sector’s Sustainable Aviation group, with members from airlines, airports, manufacturers and air navigation service providers, has announced a minimum overall 15% reduction in net emissions by 2030 and 40% by 2040 relative to 2019. The industry estimates gross emissions from UK aviation totalled 37.4 million tonnes (Mt) in 2019 but reduced to a net 31.4 Mt through market-based measures such as the EU Emissions Trading System (EU ETS). UK aviation emissions fell to around 9.1 Mt in 2020 as a result of Covid but a traffic rebound is expected to see gross emissions from unabated traffic growth accelerate past 2019 levels by 2024 to reach 41.5 Mt by 2030. In addition to in-sector technology, sustainable fuel and operational efficiency developments, reaching the 2030 and 2040 targets will rely heavily on the industry funding carbon removals elsewhere through emissions trading, offsetting and carbon capture.

However, the industry is confident the ramping up of “game-changing” sustainable aviation fuel production and use, along with emerging low and zero carbon technologies such as electric and hydrogen powered aircraft, will become mainstream in the 2030s and increase the pace of decarbonisation. In view of this, Sustainable Aviation has started to update the sector’s Decarbonisation Road Map, first published in 2020, which the group expects to demonstrate even faster potential to reduce emissions through technology innovation.

“UK aviation led the world last year by being the first national aviation body in the world to commit to net zero by 2050. We are now raising the bar by committing to additional interim milestones to hold ourselves accountable on this journey to ‘Jet Zero’,” said Adam Morton, Chair of Sustainable Aviation (SA).

However, decarbonising the sector is a huge challenge, with significant technology and policy barriers to be overcome this decade, acknowledges SA. It believes the UK risks falling behind other countries, such as the United States, which it says are putting in enhanced policies to support innovation and new fuel technologies.

Morton said the targets were ambitious but achievable though required “meaningful cooperation” between industry and government, together with the necessary policies and funding. SA has laid out five areas that it sees as critical to reaching the net zero goal:

1. Key policies this year to deliver a commercial UK sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) industry by providing an urgent demand signal and price support. This could deliver up to 14 UK plants generating SAF from household and industrial waste by the middle 2030s and supporting at least a 32% reduction in emissions from UK aviation by 2050.
2. A positive, long-term signal for investment in aerospace technology and the development of hybrid, electric and hydrogen-powered aircraft through increased and extended funding for the Aerospace Technology Institute.
3. The completion of airspace modernisation that would generate significant carbon savings.
4. Policies that incentivise the commercialisation of carbon removal technologies that enable carbon neutral or carbon negative aviation fuel, allowing the aviation industry to address any remaining residual emissions.
5. The UK government “to seek a more robust international commitment for aviation carbon reduction at the ICAO Assembly in 2022, ensuring emissions are reduced across the globe and not exported from the UK.”

With the right support, says SA, the major economic and social benefits of the UK’s air links to the world can be maintained and generate highly skilled green aviation jobs.

Responding to the SA interim targets, the UK’s Business Secretary, Kwasi Kwarteng, said: “Working with industry through our Jet Zero Council, we are putting the decarbonisation of the aviation sector at the centre of our plans to build back greener from the pandemic and this industry roadmap complements our vision perfectly.”

The infographic released by SA (see below) to show the milestones on the path to net zero emissions by 2050 indicates that 7.2 Mt of emissions could be saved from technology, SAF and operational efficiency innovation in 2030 to bring UK aviation emissions below the 2019 peak. However, to reach the 15% net reduction target, 9.3 Mt will have to come from offsetting, emissions trading or funding carbon removal technologies. To reach the 2040 interim target of a 40% net emissions reduction will require the UK aviation sector to fund 16.7 Mt of carbon removals.

SA’s projections – based on government traffic forecasts, Heathrow expansion after 2030 and allowing for the effect of Covid-19 – show emissions climbing to 62.2 Mt by 2050 with unabated traffic demand. This could be reduced by 37.3 Mt through SAF usage, aerospace technology innovation and operational efficiency improvements, leaving a sizeable 24.9 Mt of CO2 to be funded by out-of-sector carbon removals in order to reach the net zero target.

Prices in the European carbon markets (the EU ETS and UK ETS) have already traded this year above the €50/£50 ($60-70) per tonne mark and analysts including BloombergNEF (BNEF) are predicting the price to reach €100/tonne by 2030, which potentially leaves the industry with a hefty carbon bill.  BNEF also estimates the price would have to rise to at least €252/tonne for even the cheapest SAF to become price competitive with fossil jet fuel.

However, without a significant contribution to in-sector emission reductions from sustainable aviation fuels, Tim Alderslade, Chief Executive for trade body Airlines UK, told an ICF webinar this week that not only would it be impossible to meet the net zero commitment but demand constraints on air travel could “potentially come into the equation”.

SA is now working to publish its updated decarbonisation roadmap by the middle of next year. “We will be capturing the latest knowledge across industry on technologies like hydrogen and electric, and how far SAF will get us to our target,” Andy Jefferson, SA’s Programme Director, told GreenAir. “We will also consider why the EU and the global aviation industries are showing lower and different levels of MBMs in their Destination 2050 and Waypoint 2050 roadmaps.”

He said announcing an update to the roadmap and setting interim targets now was intended to provide an opportunity to restate the industry’s commitment to net zero and also provide confidence to government ahead of a net zero aviation consultation to take place shortly. However, he said, government needed to understand the industry had been severely hit financially by the pandemic and help would be needed in putting the right policy solutions and incentives in place to help achieve its ambitions.

Responding to the interim targets, UK-based Aviation Environment Federation said: “Unless and until airlines start paying for and delivering carbon capture technology, the only way to avoid aviation emissions is not to fly. The government’s net zero aviation consultation will need to recognise the need to go beyond technology, including measures to limit aviation demand and airport capacity. It will not be OK to allow aviation demand and emissions to grow as we come out of the pandemic in the hope that future fuels and technologies will save the day.”

Top photo: Heathrow Airport

The UK is to set in law what it describes as the world’s most ambitious climate change target and for the first time will include emissions from international aviation and shipping. In accepting the recommendation of its advisory Climate Change Committee, the UK government is pledging to reduce overall emissions by 78% by 2035 compared to 1990 levels. By incorporating the UK’s share of international aviation and shipping emissions in its newly announced sixth carbon budget, which covers the period 2033-2037, the government said the two sectors were an important part of its decarbonisation strategy that would allow for their emissions to be accounted for consistently. The UK has already committed to reduce overall emissions in 2030 by at least 68% compared to 1990 levels through its Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) under the Paris climate agreement – the highest reduction target made by a major economy to date – but it does not intend to include the UK’s share of emissions from international aviation and shipping in its NDC, in line with UN convention. The lead UK climate negotiator at the upcoming COP26 told journalists this week the UK would continue to work through ICAO and IMO to achieve emission reductions in line with Paris climate goals.

“We want to continue to raise the bar on tackling climate change, and that’s why we’re setting the most ambitious target to cut emissions in the world,” said Prime Minister Boris Johnson. “We want to see world leaders follow our lead and match our ambition in the run up to the crucial COP26 climate summit, as we will only build back greener and protect our planet if we come together to take action.”

Last November, Johnson outlined a ‘Ten point plan for a green industrial revolution’, one of which is to develop a strategy for the aviation sector to reach net zero emissions through aerospace technology and sustainable aviation fuels (SAF). This included the setting up of the government-industry Jet Zero Council. The government is planning to consult on its aviation decarbonisation strategy shortly, possibly in May, and then in 2025 hold a further consultation on a SAF mandate with a potential start date that year.

The Climate Change Committee (CCC) says the 68% reduction by 2030 commitment under the UK NDC would be 64% if international aviation (based on emissions from departing flights) and shipping were included. International emissions from both sectors totalled around 45 MtCO2e in 2019 and together with domestic emissions made up 10% (aviation 7% and shipping 3%) of overall UK emissions. Although emissions from international aviation and shipping are treated separately by the UN, points out the CCC, “they must be addressed if the temperature goal of the Paris Agreement is to be met,” it asserts. “The UK’s NDC should include clear commitments to act on emissions from international aviation and shipping, including both long-term and interim targets.”

In its 450-page advice in November to the government on its sixth budget, the Committee presented scenarios on how the aviation sector could reach net zero, based on what it describes as a recommended ‘Balanced Net Zero Pathway’. Under this pathway, it is assumed the aviation sector returns close to pre-pandemic demand levels by 2024 and thereafter emissions gradually decline to reach 23 MtCO2e per year by 2050, based on a modest 25% growth in traffic by 2050 compared to 2018 levels, rather than an unconstrained forecasted growth of 65% over the same period. Those remaining 23 MtCO2e emissions will need to be offset with GHG removals via nature-based and engineered options, says the guidance.

The CCC sees demand management playing a critical role in ensuring emissions continue to decrease, particularly while efficiencies and SAF scale up, and so this pathway is predicated on no net increase in UK airport capacity, so that any expansion is balanced by reductions in capacity elsewhere in the UK. It also assumes fuel efficiency per passenger improves at 1.4% per annum during the period, 9% of total aircraft distance in 2050 being flown by hybrid-electric aircraft and SAF contributes 25% of liquid fuel consumed in 2050, with two-thirds coming from biofuels and the remainder from synthetic jet fuels.

Sources of abatement in the CCC’s Balanced Net Zero Pathway for the aviation sector:

The CCC analysis also explores alternative pathways based on different contributions from efficiency and technology improvements, SAF take-up and passenger demand. It estimates that under the Balanced Net Zero Pathway, additional investment of around £390 million a year ($540m) in 2035 and £2,750 million ($3.8bn) a year in 2050 will be required for efficiency improvements and hybridisation. Further operational costs of using SAF, given their additional cost above fossil jet fuel, are likely to be incurred of £470 million a year in 2035 and £1,520 million a year in 2050. The costs are offset by operational and fuel efficiency savings of £1,230 million a year in 2035 and £2,750 million a year in 2050. In earlier years, efficiency gains significantly outweigh added fuel costs.

The cost of SAF priced with marginal GHG removals might add £35 to a return ticket from London to New York in 2050 under the Balanced Pathway, minus £21 of fuel savings from improved efficiency, estimates the CCC. If full decarbonisation was paid for using GHG removals to offset residual emissions, this may add a further £41, giving a net added cost of £56.

While welcoming the government’s climate ambition on the new target and stressing the UK aviation industry remained fully committed to achieving net-zero carbon emissions, the Chair of the cross-sector coalition Sustainable Aviation, Adam Morton, said significant government support was needed.

“This effort requires a strong long-term partnership with government – including through the Jet Zero Council – that boosts support for industry investment over the coming months and through the next critical decade,” he said. “This means providing the right policy support for SAF, increasing investment in R&D for new aircraft and engine technologies, including hydrogen and electric aircraft technology, and accelerating airspace modernisation.

“Aviation is a uniquely global industry that requires global solutions to avoid simply moving emissions from one country to another, with no appreciable impact on climate change. For this reason, the UK aviation industry is also pushing for a 2050 commitment to net zero emissions at next year’s ICAO Assembly.”

The inclusion of international aviation emissions in the UK carbon reduction targets was welcomed by NGOs Aviation Environment Federation (AEF) and Transport & Environment (T&E).

“Aviation’s share of national emissions has been growing steadily as other industries have begun to decarbonise and while some airlines and airports have made climate pledges, there had been no means of holding them to account for these aspirations,” said AEF, which had campaigned for the inclusion.

“This should mark the beginning of the end for fossil-fuelled aviation,” said Cait Hewitt, Deputy Director, AEF. “After many years of slipping the net when it comes to climate change, and expecting special privileges, airlines will now need to start planning for a very different future.

“Including international aviation in UK climate law gives a strong message from ministers that all sectors of the UK economy need to be on the same path towards net zero emissions. Now the government will need to make sure that’s delivered.”

AEF suggested the government should consider setting annual emissions targets for airlines, a review of policy on airport expansions, new financial measures to limit flying demand, such as an air miles tax, and measures to support staff currently employed in aviation to transition to green jobs where appropriate. Rather than focusing on carbon offsetting, it said, the industry could ramp up R&D into zero carbon energy options for aviation, such as synthetic fuels, and plan to deliver carbon capture and storage of remaining emissions.

T&E said the decision to include international aviation and shipping into the UK carbon budgets was a “very positive step towards reducing carbon pollution” from the two sectors and “closed a loophole they had been allowed to escape”.

“Properly accounting for the emissions is essential, but we now need meaningful action to control GHG releases and prevent future emissions rising above pre-pandemic levels,” said Matt Finch, T&E’s UK Policy Manager. “In the process, the UK can become a world leader in zero-emission fuels for planes and ships.”

Coinciding with the UK pledge, negotiators from the European Council and the European Parliament have reached a provisional agreement that will set into EU law the objective of a climate-neutral EU by 2050 and a collective net GHG emissions reduction target – emissions after deduction of removals – of at least 55% by 2030 compared to 1990, and an aspirational goal to strive to achieve negative emissions after 2050. They also agreed the Commission would engage with sectors of the economy that choose to prepare indicative voluntary roadmaps towards achieving the Union’s climate neutrality objective by 2050. (The European aviation industry released its Destination 2050 roadmap in February.) The provisional agreement on the climate law is subject to approval by the Council and Parliament before adoption.

Brussels-based T&E urged the EU to follow the example of the UK. “The UK is showing how to take responsibility for its climate impact. The EU should incorporate aviation and shipping in its climate law or relinquish its aspirations for climate leadership,” said Andrew Murphy, T&E Aviation Director. “If the UK, with an economy so reliant on aviation and shipping, can do this then Europe has no excuses.”

Top photo: British Airways A350 tail fin

There should be no net expansion of UK airport capacity unless the sector is on track to sufficiently outperform its net emissions trajectory and can accommodate the additional demand, says the UK’s advisory Climate Change Committee (CCC). In a major report on recommended policies to achieve the UK’s overall net zero emissions by 2050 target, the CCC says demand management will be required to constrain UK aviation growth to 25% growth by 2050 from 2018 levels unless efficiency and sustainable aviation fuel take-up can be developed quicker than expected. The Committee recommends emissions from international aviation be included in UK carbon budgets and the net zero target by next year. The UK should also work with ICAO to set a long-term emissions goal consistent with the Paris Agreement, strengthen CORSIA and align the scheme to this goal in 2023.

The policies for aviation are set out in the Committee’s advice to government on the nation’s Sixth Carbon Budget – the legal limit for UK net GHG emissions over the 2033-37 period. This will necessitate a requirement for an overall 78% reduction in UK emissions by 2035 relative to 1990, equivalent to a 63% reduction from 2019, which it says would place the UK on a path to net zero by 2050 at the latest.

On aviation, the Committee’s report acknowledges the UK industry’s commitment through its Sustainable Aviation coalition to the net-zero goal for 2050 although this is not yet a policy goal for the government, which is due to consult in 2021 on its intended Aviation Decarbonisation Strategy.

“Higher-level strategic gaps include the lack of formal inclusion of international emissions in UK carbon budgets and the net zero target, and the need for a sector emissions trajectory to inform demand management and airport capacity policies,” points out the Committee. “Further research is also needed on non-CO2 effects and potential mitigation options.”

UK government policy has been not to include emissions from international flights in the carbon budgets pending developments with UN negotiations on ICAO’s CORSIA scheme but the Committee is strongly recommending a change. The Chairman of the CCC, Lord Deben, told journalists ahead of the publication of the report that the UN structure demanded international emissions from aviation and shipping be excluded from Nationally Determined Contributions under the Paris Agreement.

“What the Committee is saying very clearly is that the UK government must take up the cudgels in order to include the emissions from these two sectors. If you don’t include them, then you are falsifying the fact when it comes to net zero, so we need to make that change,” he said. “We’ve really got to get aviation and shipping into the system, and pretty quickly.”

Existing UK aviation policy has been focused on establishing the Jet Zero Council with an ambition for zero-emissions commercial flight, match-funding for aircraft technology development and traded certificate price support for sustainable aviation fuels (SAF) under the Renewable Transport Fuel Obligation (RTFO). Investments have also been made in a grant-funding competition for SAF production and the FlyZero aircraft technology initiative. There are also plans for a SAF clearing house to enable the UK to certify new fuels and a consultation on a SAF blending mandate for a potential start in 2025.

However, the RTFO inclusion is unlikely to drive significant development of renewable jet fuels and there is a lack of larger-scale deployment support and policy framework for these fuels, says the Committee. It advises the government to set out a policy package for supporting the near-term deployment of SAF facilities in the UK that may involve capital or loan guarantee support, and to transition to a more bespoke policy than the RTFO. A SAF blending mandate could ultimately provide more certainty to SAF plant investors than the RTFO, it believes. SAF facilities should have to install carbon capture and storage (CCS) or be built CCS-ready in order to maximise GHG savings, it adds, and SAF must meet strict sustainability standards.

The report says carbon pricing will be required to incentivise the transition to net zero although there are issues around equitable distribution of costs. Aviation fuel faces no taxes and international flights beyond EU borders are outside the scope of the EU ETS, so do not face a carbon price, it points out. The Committee noted that the recent citizens’ UK Climate Assembly favoured a frequent flyer levy to address fairness concerns.

The Committee proposes that in the long term, an economy-wide emissions trading scheme with a cap set to zero emissions would be a plausible way of balancing emissions and pricing carbon for sectors like aviation, so providing financial support for GHG emissions removals from, for example, woodland or peatland restoration, or engineered removals such as bioenergy with carbon capture and storage (BECCS).

Given expected developments in efficiency and SAF deployment, the Committee advises the government to implement a demand management policy to constrain UK aviation growth to 25% by 2050 from 2018 levels for the sector to contribute to the UK net zero goal. If efficiency and SAF develop quicker, it may be possible for demand growth to rise above 25%, provided that additional non-CO2 effects are acceptable or can be mitigated, it says.

“The government should assess its airport capacity strategy in the context of net zero and any lasting impacts on demand from Covid-19. Investments will need to be demonstrated to make economic sense in a net zero world and the transition towards it,” says the report.

“Unless faster than expected progress is made on aircraft technology and SAF deployment, such that the sector is outperforming its trajectory to net zero, current planned additional airport capacity would require capacity restrictions placed on other airports. Going forwards, there should be no net expansion of UK airport capacity unless the sector is assessed as being on track to sufficiently outperform a net emissions trajectory that is compatible with achieving net zero alongside the rest of the economy, and is able to accommodate the additional demand and still stay on track.”

Baroness Brown, Deputy Chair of the Committee, told journalists: “There is a limit on the aviation emissions we can afford so if it is crucial for our economy to have, say, more capacity in the airport system in London then that would mean reducing capacity elsewhere – it’s about no net increase in the capacity. We do assume there can be some growth in aviation and we’ve looked very carefully at the conclusions of the Climate Assembly and the assumptions we have made are closely aligned with it on issues like aviation.

“The aviation industry is hugely important to this country and we consider there will be some very important advances in technology and synthetic fuels, and we are keen that the government supports their development. As you go forward in time, the benefits from improving aircraft efficiency will also start to outweigh the costs of reducing aviation emissions. It’s not a gloomy story about aviation – there are opportunities but not for rampant growth in terms of flying, and certainly not in the short term until we have the solutions in place.”

On aviation’s non-CO2 effects, the report recommends work should be supported to reduce the scientific uncertainties and fund research into mitigation options. As a minimum goal, there should be no additional non-CO2 warming from aviation after 2050 and possibly earlier with a policy intervention.

“Alongside efforts at ICAO, the Aviation Decarbonisation Strategy and the package of domestic policies, plus parallel progress on a mechanism for deploying GHG removals in the UK, should put UK aviation emissions on track to contribute fully to meeting the Sixth Carbon Budget and the net zero target,” concludes the report.

Responding, Sustainable Aviation’s Programme Director, Andy Jefferson, commented: “We were the first national aviation group in the world to pledge to achieve net zero by 2050 in February of this year, and our members are fully committed to decarbonising aviation in line with global targets. 

“We are currently assessing potential interim targets for 2030, and plan to announce this during 2021 once we have clarity on a range of dependent factors. This includes the trajectory of the post-pandemic recovery, the next phase of the EU Emissions Trading System and the global CORSIA scheme. 

“We have a clear Road-Map for how to achieve net zero in aviation through SAF, new cleaner aircraft and modernisation of airspace. The right action from government now on SAF in particular will have a marked effect on our ability to set and achieve ambitious interim targets for decarbonisation.”

Cait Hewitt, Deputy Director of UK environmental group the Aviation Environment Federation, said: “The CCC’s advice is clear: the government needs to call time on airport expansion. Zero-carbon aviation is currently an aspiration, not a reality, and while it’s right to pursue new technologies for cutting emissions, we can’t rely on these coming through fast enough to decarbonise the sector without also reducing aviation demand.

“Our analysis shows that current and planned UK airport expansions could increase aviation CO2 emissions by nearly 9 Mt a year in 2050 compared to a situation with no expansion.

“The aviation sector has taken a huge hit from the Covid pandemic but jobs per passenger had already been falling for many years. The government now needs to sharpen its focus on how to build the zero-carbon industries – and jobs – of the future.”

Photo: Heathrow Airport

Zero emissions flight pioneer ZeroAvia has signed a Heads of Terms collaboration with Protium to develop and expand green hydrogen infrastructure for decarbonising aviation in the UK. Project developer Protium has long-term ambitions to eventually own and operate green hydrogen infrastructure across UK airports. The UK and US based ZeroAvia recently operated a first zero-emission flight from Cranfield, with a six-seater aircraft using hydrogen and atmospheric oxygen in a fuel cell system to create electricity and propel the aircraft whilst only emitting water vapour. It is initialling targeting commercial operations in 2023 with a 10-20 seat aircraft for passenger transport and package delivery. Meanwhile, research commissioned by cross-industry group Sustainable Aviation has identified seven industrial clusters in the UK that could be home to up to 14 sustainable aviation fuel facilities.

Following its flight from Cranfield University’s airfield, ZeroAvia is now planning the next and final stage of its six-seat development programme with a 250-mile zero-emission flight out of an airfield in Orkney, Scotland before the end of this year.

The programme in the UK is part-funded through the UK government’s Aerospace Technology Institute, which is supporting the HyFlyer project that aims to decarbonise medium-range small passenger aircraft by demonstrating powertrain technology to replace conventional piston engine in propeller aircraft. As well as Protium, other partners in the project include the European Marine Energy Centre (EMEC) and Intelligent Energy. The latter is optimising its high-power fuel cell technology for application in aviation while EMEC, producers of green hydrogen from renewable energy, is supplying the hydrogen required for flight testing and developing a mobile refuelling platform compatible with the plane.

ZeroAvia has joined the UK’s Jet Zero Council, a government and industry partnership launched by British Prime Minister Boris Johnson this summer to drive net-zero ambitions for the UK aviation and aerospace sector. Along with government ministers, the Council is made up of representatives from the aviation industry, investor groups and an NGO, and will be chaired by the UK’s Transport Secretary and Business Secretary. The full list of Council members has now been published by the government.

The principal aims of the body are to:

• Develop and industrialise zero-emission aviation and aerospace technologies;
• Establish UK production facilities for sustainable aviation fuels (SAF) and commercialising the industry by driving down production costs; and
• Develop a coordinated approach to the policy and regulatory framework needed to deliver net zero aviation by 2050.

“Climate change is one of the greatest challenges faced by modern society, and we know we need to go further and faster if we are to make businesses sustainable long into the future,” said Aviation Minister Robert Courts. “That’s why we’re bringing together government, business and investors to reduce emissions in the aviation sector. Through innovative technologies such as sustainable fuels, hybrid and eventually electric planes, we will build a cleaner, greener and more sustainable future for all.”

Sustainable Aviation (SA), which committed in February to achieving net-zero emissions by 2050, believes a UK SAF industry could add £2.9 billion ($3.7bn) annually to the economy, create 20,000 jobs in SAF production and export services, and deliver savings of 3.6 million tonnes of CO2 a year by 2038. The industry group is calling for £500 million ($640m) in government funding, made up of £429 million in government-backed loan guarantees for the initial first-of-its-kind SAF production facilities, £50 million in grants and development support for new SAF technologies, and £21 million to establish a UK clearing house to enable SAF testing and approval.

The SA-commissioned research undertaken by energy consultancy E4tech showed 14 SAF production facilities could be built in seven industrial clusters situated in Teesside, Humberside, North West England, South Wales, Southampton, St Fergus and Grangemouth, Scotland. Humberside is the intended location for the Altalto waste-to-jet-fuel facility proposed by Velocys and backed by British Airways and Shell, which is expected to be the first in the UK to produce SAF.

“The research shows that it is possible to deliver on the government’s Jet Zero ambition and transform aviation using readily available feedstocks, innovative technology and existing aircraft,” commented Henrik Wareborn, CEO of Velocys. “With Altalto, the Humber could fuel this transformation, cutting carbon and creating jobs in the process. As a key cluster for the development of this new domestic industry, the region has a fantastic opportunity to establish itself as the global hub for fuelling future air travel.”

Added Adam Morton, Chair of Sustainable Aviation: “Sustainable aviation fuels will be essential for the global aviation industry in a net zero world and the UK has a golden opportunity to become a world-leader by commercialising this technology at an early stage.

“There are enormous benefits in terms of jobs and growth across these clusters. By backing SAF in this way, the government can kickstart a green recovery and create high-quality and futureproof jobs for thousands of people. All of this can be delivered at the same time as slashing carbon emissions.”

Speaking at a cross-party parliamentary debate he called to discuss the work of the Jet Zero Council, Andrew Selous MP said: “We should harness our huge strength in aviation technology and engineering to find new solutions to allow us to fly without wrecking the planet.

“We also need to ensure that the United Kingdom is at the forefront of sustainable aviation, so that the high-skilled, high-wage jobs of the future are provided here. We cannot leave this to chance, as has unfortunately happened with other technologies in the past.”

Responded Aviation Minister Robert Courts: “Britain has always led the way on aviation, and we will continue to do so. There is a huge prize in sight: developing the sector that meets the challenges of the future, and we will be front and centre, capturing those first mover advantages.”

Commenting after the debate, Morton said: “The support from a broad range of MPs from right across the political landscape is testament to this crucial issue. It’s so important to see this coalition come together to back early stage sustainable aviation fuel facilities.”

The next meeting of the Jet Zero Council is due to take place at the end of this month, which Sustainable Aviation said would be an opportunity for government and industry to discuss and make progress on accelerating the development of early-stage SAF facilities.

The only environmental group represented on the Council is the Aviation Environment Federation. Its Director, Tim Johnson, said: “Some government support and incentive for sustainable aviation fuel R&D is reasonable, and happens already, but that helps to accelerate bringing a product to market. But once at market, the question is scaling up and getting it into the fleet. The quid pro quo must therefore be that industry accepts it can’t rely on voluntary approaches and market forces, which hasn’t really worked to date for SAF because it doesn’t create certainty for investors – and that governments must regulate and introduce effective carbon pricing that ensures uptake.”

Photo: ZeroAvia’s Piper M-class retrofitted aircraft undertakes first hydrogen flight