Aviation sector has two years to meet emissions reductions targets
Europe’s airlines and airports are running out of time to hit targeted mandates, with 50 stakeholders committing to collaborate on bringing e-SAF to scale.
According to a new report, between €15 and €25billion will be needed by the sector by 2030 in order to stand a chance of limiting and cutting emissions.
The analysis was conducted as part of Project SkySpower, which brings together more than 50 companies and CEOs from across the industry in a collaborative effort to develop electro-fuelled sustainable aviation fuel [e-SAF], a first-of-its-kind technology many consider vital to ensure emissions from air travel will significantly fall this decade.
Aviation emissions rose by 19% year-on-year in 2023 as passenger numbers bounced back following worldwide easing of travel restrictions, requirements and bans linked to the Covid-19 pandemic. In April, the campaign group Transport & Environment [T&E] predicted that 2024 would air travel to and from the UK to exceed pre-coronavirus levels to hit new records.
A philanthropically funded initiative, the ee-SAF project unites Air France-KLM, easyjet, private jet service Victor, Copenhagen Airports, supply-side companies ((including Arcadia e-Fuels, Velocys, Topsoe, SkyNRG and Technip Energies) and financial institutions ING, Natixis Corporate & Investment Banking, Rockton and KGAL.
Among other things, the group is calling for government subsidies to avoid e-SAF hitting a price point that could be up to eight time as expensive as fossil fuels, and investment in developing a European sector that could unlock €80billion of market opportunities and secure 14million existing jobs.
Members have now established three critical objectives and a 10-point action plan. These include:
1. Bridge the premium between e-SAF and fossil jet fuel with public funding via existing industry taxation while the technology scales.
2. Secure long-term demand for e-SAF at a price that addresses the economic challenges of the new fuel.
3. Mitigate first-of-a-kind e-SAF project risk to unlock commercial capital.
‘Today, our industry faces its biggest challenge yet: reducing its climate impact. e-SAF will play an important role in addressing this challenge,’ said Marjan Rintel, CEO KLM and co-chair of Project SkyPower on behalf of Air France-KLM. Project SkyPower is modelling the conditions required to overcome the barriers to scaling e-SAF. By working together, we now have a shared economic model for e-SAF, and an action plan to be implemented by the wider aviation ecosystem. It is this kind of collaboration that gives us the best chance of reducing our impact on the environment while continuing to deliver economic and social benefits.’
‘Decarbonising aviation is one of the tougher challenges and requires cooperative leadership to break down the silos,’ added Paul Polman, Business Leader and Project SkyPower co-chair. ‘Partnering with governments, financial institutions and civil society is imperative to scale e-SAF to a tipping point where it not only progresses on urgent emissions reduction but also secures millions of jobs and future-proofs the aviation industry.’
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Image: KLM