UK – GreenAir News https://www.greenairnews.com Reporting on aviation and the environment Fri, 26 Feb 2021 17:56:28 +0000 en-GB hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.7.1 https://www.greenairnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/cropped-GreenAir-Favicon-Jan2021-32x32.png UK – GreenAir News https://www.greenairnews.com 32 32 UK’s climate advisers recommend no net airport expansion without aviation industry progress to net zero https://www.greenairnews.com/?p=132&utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=uks-climate-advisers-recommend-no-net-airport-expansion-without-aviation-industry-progress-to-net-zero Wed, 09 Dec 2020 10:50:00 +0000 https://www.greenairnews.com/?p=132 UK’s climate advisers recommend no net airport expansion without aviation industry progress to net zero

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

]]>
EU aviation sector calls for policy support and investment to help achieve carbon neutrality by 2050 https://www.greenairnews.com/?p=276&utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=eu-aviation-sector-calls-for-policy-support-and-investment-to-help-achieve-carbon-neutrality-by-2050 Thu, 19 Nov 2020 17:18:00 +0000 https://www.greenairnews.com/?p=276 EU aviation sector calls for policy support and investment to help achieve carbon neutrality by 2050

Over 20 European aviation and travel associations have called for a joint commitment between industry and policymakers to achieve net zero CO2 emissions from all flights within and departing from the EU by 2050. As signatories to an ‘Aviation Round Table Report’, they have urged EU leaders to join and actively support an ‘EU Pact for Sustainable Aviation’ by the end of 2021 by contributing to a policy and financial framework they see as vital to enable the aviation sector to deliver on its sustainability commitments. The report details ways aviation can recover from the Covid-19 crisis whilst supporting the EU’s Green Deal objectives and build a greener, socially and economically robust future. These include an EU legislative framework on sustainable aviation fuels, funding and investment for low-carbon aircraft innovations and an incentive scheme for fleet renewal. The sector is also looking for EU aid in recovering from the pandemic.

“The European aviation sector believes that its recovery is fully compatible with, and should be accompanied by, broader efforts to reduce its environmental footprint, provided the right policies are in place,” say the authors of the ‘Aviation round table report on the recovery of European aviation’. “Therefore, the sector is committed to continue its efforts to reduce its negative environmental impacts, both locally and globally.”

However, they say, a bold strategy is firstly required for a sustainable recovery of the European aviation sector and to restore public confidence in air travel through effective coordination of travel restrictions and requirements by EU member states. The EU and member states should put in place a targeted European Aviation Relief Programme until the recovery of air traffic, advises the report, which the sector does not expect before 2024 or 2025. Support measures should aim to stabilise the sector and help prevent widescale loss of employment and air connectivity, it adds.

“The European aviation sector believes that its recovery is fully compatible with, and should be accompanied by, broader efforts to reduce its environmental footprint, provided the right policies are in place,” says the associations’ declaration. “Therefore, the sector is committed to continue its efforts to reduce its negative environmental impacts, both locally and globally. The latter implies in particular for all stakeholders and all policymakers to work together to achieve net zero CO2 emissions from all flights within and departing from the EU by 2050.”

The pact between the sector, stakeholders and government should chart a path towards the 2050 carbon neutral target with the aim of achieving significant emission reductions by 2030, in line with EU Climate Action objectives, states the document, and also consider the feasibility of making 2019 the peak year for CO2 emissions from European aviation, “while enabling the sector to continue delivering its social and economic benefits.”

The signatories say the pact should specify the supporting policy framework and financial mechanisms needed at EU level to achieve the goals. This includes an urgent need for a comprehensive EU legislative framework to promote the uptake and deployment of sustainable aviation fuels (SAF) as well as the establishment of a green incentive scheme for fleet renewal coupled with retirement, and an increase in public co-funding for civil aviation research and innovation in fields such as electric propulsion and hydrogen and synthetic fuels. Recognition should also be given to the revision of the Single European Sky and the continuation of the EU Emissions Trading System (EU ETS) alongside the global CORSIA carbon offsetting scheme for international aviation.

A comprehensive SAF framework with a dedicated stable set of policy measures and public investment plans to boost European production and uptake would help accelerate aviation decarbonisation and contribute towards achieving the EU’s 2030 climate goals, say the report’s authors. Particular attention should also be given to the medium- and long-term potential for synthetic fuels to be scaled up.

Subject to meeting strict sustainability criteria, they say measures should include:

  • Public investment (including possible ownership) in SAF production facilities enabling the necessary de-risking required to debt finance projects as well as the execution of offtake contracts with aircraft operators;
  • Support to private investment in SAF production, for example through grants and/or loan guarantees;
  • Support to R&D in new SAF feedstock and production pathways.

The industry also advocates a progressive EU-wide blending mandate that would enable the European aviation sector to gradually increase the use of SAF, based on strict sustainability criteria, without compromising its competitiveness.

The report estimates around 780 aircraft in European in-service fleets could be “early retired” and replaced by more modern and efficient aircraft, which it says has the potential to save up to 50 million tonnes of CO2 up until 2030. Fleet renewal coupled with retirement could be maintained through the implementation of a corresponding temporary and airline/aircraft operator non-market distorting co-financing EU incentive scheme, it recommends.

“Such a scheme could be a win-win for all stakeholders in the aviation ecosystem as it will help the aviation sector to recover from the Covid-19 crisis. Most importantly, it would have important environmental benefits in the short term.”

On market-based measures, the report says policymakers should ensure the continuation of aviation’s inclusion in the EU ETS and reforms to the scheme should be done in a complementary way to CORSIA, while avoiding distortion of competition for European aviation. It also calls for revenues collected through ETS allowances be ring-fenced and reinvested into aviation decarbonisation, for example through R&D funding or financial incentives to the deployment of SAF. By 2050, to achieve the net zero target, the report envisages any residual aviation emissions being removed from the atmosphere through offsetting involving natural carbon sinks, for example forests, or dedicated technologies such as carbon capture, usage and storage (CCUS).

The report also recommends industry and governments should work together to facilitate multimodal choices of passengers to support the most efficient journeys across an integrated transport system and include multimodal ticketing and distribution. It also has proposals on the local impacts of aviation such as noise and air quality.

The drafters of the report included ACI Europe (airports), A4E (airlines), ERA (regional airlines), ASD (aerospace), CANSO (air traffic management), ECA (pilots) and ETF (transport trade unions).

One of the 20 signatories to the report is campaign group Transport & Environment (T&E), a longstanding critic of efforts so far to decarbonise aviation.

“We haven’t always been best friends with the aviation sector but we have signed this joint roundtable report,” said William Todts, President of T&E, during a session at this week’s virtual ACI Europe Congress and Assembly. “It wasn’t an easy decision but I genuinely believe there is a big opportunity to build back better. The airline industry is in a big crisis. It will ask and get additional support and we can use this as an opportunity to do much better.

“But we need to be clear what a sustainable recovery is and what it is not. It is not a return to 2019 with similar levels of growth, add a bit of biofuels and CORSIA, and it’s done. We’re looking for the type of change that’s taking place in the automotive industry where they are completely changing their factories, retraining their people and investing billions of euros. That’s what we are going to have to see in the aviation industry but I’m really hopeful that the sustainability pact that we are jointly calling for will create a framework and set ambitious goals. We all need to work together.

“There are three elements that are very important. Firstly, it is essential we scale up clean new fuels and we need to focus on those fuels that are sustainable and scalable. First generation biofuels are not sustainable and the problem with advanced biofuels is they are not scalable, so we need to focus on those we can scale up, such as e-fuels. This will save us a lot of trouble down the road. Secondly, we need a lot more innovation in this sector. It’s exciting that Airbus are promising us hydrogen aircraft by 2035 but we don’t have any means to hold them accountable. That’s not the way it works in the automotive sector – targets are set and binding. Thirdly, we will need to have a discussion about tax. It’s going to be hard to have untaxed fossil kerosene in a net-zero world.

“There has been a lot of fighting between civil society and the aviation industry but we now have an opportunity for the industry to emerge very differently from this crisis. It’s going to be a big change.”

The European Commission’s Executive Vice President, Margrethe Vestager, said the report provided important food for thought both for immediate issues and forward-looking challenges.

Added Transport Commissioner Adina Vălean: “I welcome this report from the aviation sector and civil society on what is needed to rebuild passengers’ trust, and for the recovery of this hard-hit sector, which remains critical for global supply chains and people’s mobility. It offers a vision of how to make the sector stronger, more sustainable and more forward-looking than it was before the Covid-19 pandemic. I applaud the commitment to reach net-zero CO2 emissions by 2050, and the proposal to create a pact for social sustainability. This is fully in line with our ambitions for the future growth of the EU.”

In the UK, meanwhile, Prime Minister Boris Johnson this week unveiled a 10-point plan for a green industrial revolution to help achieve the government’s net-zero emissions by 2050 pledge. One of the 10 actions is to support difficult to decarbonise industries such as aviation through research projects for zero-emission planes. The government recently set up a Jet Zero Council with high-level representatives from the sector.

Ahead of the government announcement, the industry coalition group Sustainable Aviation had called for support in three areas it considered critical to achieving net zero flight: the delivery of a UK SAF industry; making electric, hybrid and hydrogen powered aircraft a reality through the UK’s Aerospace Technology Institute; and the completion of airspace modernisation. Targeted loan guarantees and the provision of capital grants would be critical, they said, to delivering first-of-a-kind SAF plants that could lead to up to 14 UK plants generating sustainable fuel from household and industrial waste by the middle 2030s.

Welcoming the government plan, the Chair of Sustainable Aviation, Adam Morton, said: “It is particularly encouraging that Jet Zero is identified as one of the priority areas. Through this investment and the work of the newly formed Jet Zero Council, UK aviation has the potential to lead the world in developing and deploying cutting edge technologies such as sustainable aviation fuel.

“SAF technology is available now, can be used in existing engines and aircraft, and its production overlaps strongly with the regions that have been earmarked for hydrogen and CCUS projects. However, follow-up action is needed urgently to stimulate the required private sector investment and remove obstacles to deployment. Over the longer term, these synthetic fuels will be joined by electric and hydrogen propulsion as part of a package to deliver net zero flight.”

]]>