At least 60 companies globally, including Spicejet and Bangalore airport from India, have committed to accelerate their efforts to take the supply and use of sustainable aviation fuel to 10 per cent of global jet aviation fuel supply by 2030, the World Economic Forum (WEF) said on Thursday.
Releasing a ‘2030 Ambition Statement’, the WEF said carbon-free energy is in sight in some sectors but progress on abating carbon emissions in the aviation sector has been slower. Signatory companies to the Statement represent a global group of airlines, airports, fuel suppliers and other industry stakeholders who are making a mission-critical commitment on the path to net-zero emissions by 2050.
The World Economic Forum’s Clean Skies for Tomorrow Coalition – whose mission is to accelerate the deployment of sustainable aviation fuels (SAF) – has achieved a milestone on the path to net-zero emissions by 2050, by working together to power global aviation with 10 per cent SAF by 2030, it added. As aviation remains a “hard to abate” sector in reducing Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions, strong climate action from the industry is particularly important as travel begins to return to pre-pandemic levels, it said.
The 60 organisations who have signed the 2030 Ambition Statement include Accenture, ACME, Airbus, Airports Council International, American Airlines, Bangalore International Airport Limited (BIAL), Biodiesel Association of India (BDAI), Boeing, bp, British Airways, Cathay Pacific Airways and Council on Energy, Environment and Water (CEEW).
These also include Delta Air Lines, Dubai Airports, Fraport, Heathrow Airport, Indian Institute of Petroleum, International Airlines Group, Japan Airlines, KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, oneworld alliance, Praj Industries Ltd, Punjab Renewable Energy Systems Pvt Ltd, Qatar Airways, SpiceJet, The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI), United Airlines and Virgin Atlantic.
The signatory companies also include non-aviation companies that rely on corporate air travel for their business operations, demonstrating that the responsibility of decarbonizing the industry lies with all those who depend on the aviation sector. This statement is also in full support of the UN High Level Climate Champions’ 2030 Breakthrough Outcome for aviation, one of over 30 sectoral near-term targets that are critical to halving emissions by 2030 and delivering the promise of the Paris Agreement.
Synthesized from sustainable, renewable feedstocks – such as municipal waste, agricultural residues and waste lipids, or developed through a power-to-liquid route – SAF has already fuelled more than 250,000 commercial flights. Difficulties, however, remain in getting SAF to scale up production due to its prohibitively high price gap with fossil-based jet fuel, resulting in a “chicken and egg” problem with supply and demand.
The WEF said costs will fall if production scales up, but fuel providers are facing headwinds due to high price pressure on low SAF demand, and high risks associated with policy and investment uncertainty. Demonstrating sufficient demand and policy certainty will be crucial to building investor confidence, hence the power of this major commitment from the leading companies in the aviation energy value chain, it added.
