The World Economic Forum (WEF) in collaboration with several the leading international companies has launched the Sustainable Aviation Challenge.
The International Energy Agency has identified that 50% of emissions reductions required for achieving net-zero will come from technologies that are not yet available or at the needed scale, especially in hard-to-abate industrial sectors such as aviation.
Within this context, the WEF has launched the Sustainable Aviation Challenge, which calls for innovative solutions to decarbonise aviation and accelerate novel technology pathways, including sustainable aviation fuels, propulsion technologies and value chain innovations like feedstock, engineering, infrastructure and market development.
The challenge is being launched in collaboration with Salesforce, Breakthrough Energy, Boom Supersonic, Deloitte, Airbus, Eni, JetBlue Ventures, Qantas Airways Limited, Airports Council International, and World Energy alongside the First Movers Coalition (FMC), which is co-chaired by US Department of State and supported by US Department of Energy, and UpLink.
Proposals will be accepted from August 24 through October 2, and “Top Innovators” will be announced early next year. “Top Innovators” will benefit from the World Economic Forum (WEF) and UpLink network in brand building, visibility, and peer-to-peer learning opportunities. The effort will “prioritize collaboration between innovators and leaders in sustainable aviation to support growth, commercialization and deployment of novel solutions”.