UK's Jet Zero Council Gets Underway to Bring Aviation Emissions in Line with 2050 Net-Zero Target

(GreenAir Online) The first meeting of the UK’s Jet Zero Council was launched yesterday (July 22, 2020) by British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and brought together aviation and aerospace leaders, sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) companies, investors, academics and representatives from the environmental sector. The aim of the Council is to tackle aviation emissions in line with the government’s 2050 net zero goal and an ambition to achieve the first ever zero emission long-haul passenger plane. Last week, a cross-party group of MPs called on the government to support investment in aviation decarbonisation and drive a green recovery, including industry-matched funding for early stage SAF facilities. Meanwhile, SAF businesses have been encouraged to take part in a Covid-19 green recovery competition led by government agency Innovate UK to receive financial support for research and development projects.

“The creation of the Council is a major milestone in Britain’s move to decarbonise aviation, and the inclusion of a wide range of expertise from Sustainable Aviation members is particularly encouraging. As our Road-Map set out, the adoption of newer, more efficient aircraft and sustainable aviation fuels can help realise the government’s ambition to deliver jet-zero. Sustainable Aviation and our members are committed to delivering net-zero carbon emissions across UK aviation and aerospace by 2050,” said its Chair, Rolls-Royce’s Adam Morton.

“It is exciting to see that establishing UK production facilities for sustainable aviation fuels is a priority for the Jet Zero Council. We would eagerly welcome government support for rapid commercialisation of this innovative technology to help decarbonise aviation, level up the country with new high value-added green jobs, and fuel a green recovery.”

Also represented at the Council meeting was UK environmental group Aviation Environment Federation (AEF), whose Director, Tim Johnson, said: “It was a positive start, with an appropriate degree of ambition and urgency, a technology-neutral stance that will treat all options equally, and recognition that getting new technology and SAF into the fleet requires a regulatory framework that includes carbon pricing. That’s a good platform to work from.”

Henrik Wareborn, CEO of Velocys, which is planning to build a SAF facility in the north-east of England in partnership with British Airways and Shell, commented: “The first meeting of the Council could not have come at a more important time. As we return to the skies, attention must focus on solutions that can deliver meaningful carbon savings not just by 2050 but within the decade.

“Sustainable aviation fuels will play a critical role in achieving the government’s goal of demonstrating flight across the Atlantic without harming the environment within a generation. In fact, our planned waste-to-jet-fuel facility could be fuelling transatlantic flights in just five years’ time without the need to modify aircraft or engines at all. Velocys has the technology, already demonstrated at commercial scale, which cuts lifecycle carbon emissions by 70%. By incorporating carbon capture and storage technology, emissions could be cut further, enabling the facility and others that could follow to produce carbon negative emissions fuel by the end of the decade.”

The letter from the 35 cross-party MPs to Chancellor Rishi Sunak urges the government to “supercharge a green aviation recovery” by taking three actions: