Every industrial sector is aggressively tackling the problem of carbon emissions and the threat to life on earth from global warming. The aviation sector is leading the way in taking extra steps and measures to ensure the decarbonisation of the industry and the path to clean aviation. Over the past few years, the aviation industry has targeted the replacement of short-haul flights with greener, ground transportation options such as rail travel. In April 2022, France became the first large nation to ban all short-haul flights where a train or bus alternative option of two and a half hours or less exists, as part of the overall effort by France to reduce carbon emissions by 40% by 2030. Other European jurisdictions are also considering a similar approach and similar restrictions were included as part of bailout state aid during the pandemic period for certain carriers.
The efficacy of the replacement of short-haul flights with ground transportation has been called into questions by a new study, titled: Banning super short-haul flights: Environmental evidence or political turbulence?. The study revealed that flights shorter than 500km account for 27.9% of departures but 5.9% of fuel burnt. In contrast, flights longer than 4,000km account for 6.2% of departures but 47.0% of fuel burnt, although with significant variation across countries.
Thus, the study concluded that targeting shorter flights will contribute little to reducing the impact of aviation on climate, and policy initiatives that target longer flights are urgently needed.
According to IATA, the aviation sector produces 900 million tons of CO2 per year, if nothing is done to keep it in check by 2050 it will rise to 1.8 billion tons, meaning over 30 years, 21.2 billion tons of CO2 would be released into the atmosphere.
However, there might be an easier option rather than putting a restriction on flying.
The option of making flying cleaner and greener for the shorter-term future relies on the use of sustainable aviation fuels (SAFs), which requires acceleration in the production and infrastructure for SAF, and in the longer-term the development of new technologies such as hydrogen- and electric-powered aircraft.
Speaking on the issue of decarbonisation of the aviation industry during a recent industry conference, Warren East of Rolls-Royce commented: “Ultimately, one day I’m pretty confident that you’ll be able to fly from here to San Francisco on an aircraft with something like a gas turbine burning hydrogen, but there’s no way that we’re going to be doing that in the next 15 years. So we need a transitional technology.”
Companies from oil majors to startups are making sustainable aviation fuels (SAF), which offer a reduction of up to 80% in carbon emissions over their lifecycle, using feedstocks like cooking oil. SAF can be blended with traditional fuel and dropped straight into existing aircraft, but it is more expensive and makes up less than 1% of the fuel used by commercial aircraft today. In days to come the aviation sector will witness an exponential rise in SAF with rising demand.
Net zero will be reached through a combination of climate action initiatives. This includes supporting new aircraft technologies, such as hydrogen and electric, as well as improvements in operational efficiency and infrastructure. The acceleration of the production and uptake of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) is expected to play a major role in reducing the climate impact of aviation.