Ongoing emissions from
… greenwashed fuels and engines
HYDROGEN
Hydrogen-powered aircraft will not have zero emissions, even if hydrogen is produced from renewable electricity, because it will still emit NOx and generate contrail cirrus that have a higher climate impact than CO2 today. The deployment of “green” hydrogen in aviation would require huge quantities of renewable electricity, which would deprive other sectors needing to decarbonise. Hydrogen will not be viable for medium and long-haul flights before 2050, much too late to tackle the climate emergency.
• Energy paths for low-emissions aviation (SAF, H2, eFuel)
https://www.airbus.com/en/innovation/energy-transition
• Airlines urge governments to save floundering green jet fuel industry
https://www.reuters.com/business/aerospace-defense/airlines-urge-governments-save-floundering-green-jet-fuel-industry-2024-07-24/
• Green jet fuel is here – so why are airlines not using it?
https://edition.cnn.com/travel/article/saf-jet-fuel-green/index.html
‘SUSTAINABLE’ AVIATION FUELS
The aviation industry uses marketing greenwash and accounting tricks to mislead you into thinking that actual flight emissions from ‘Sustainable’ Aviation Fuel (SAF) are a fraction of those from fossil jet fuel. A jet never burns pure SAF, so a common 50:50 blend with fossil jet fuel doubles claimed emissions. And actual flight CO2 emissions are additionally more than claimed, by the amount of CO2 drawn down in making the fuel. Furthermore SAF still creates non-CO2 emissions twice as warming as actual flight CO2 emissions.
• Turbulence on the horizon for aviation?
https://www.infrastructureinvestor.com/turbulence-on-the-horizon-for-aviation/
• Runway to calamity
https://climatesafety.info/thesustainablehour511/
• South Africa Has Vast Potential in Sustainable Aviation Fuel Production
https://www.iata.org/en/pressroom/2024-releases/2024-07-03-01/
• Pratt & Whitney Successfully Tests Engine on 100 Percent Sustainable Aviation Fuel
https://www.spacedaily.com/m/reports/Pratt_and_Whitney_Successfully_Tests_Engine_on_100_Percent_Sustainable_Aviation_Fuel_999.html
• Air New Zealand receives 500,000-liter delivery of Sustainable Aviation Fuel
https://www.aerotime.aero/articles/air-new-zealand-receives-500000-liter-delivery-of-sustainable-aviation-fuel
• Climate tech explained: sustainable aviation fuels
https://www.ft.com/content/84aa3dcb-4ff5-4607-a624-39cd706a7197
• Investing in Sustainable Aviation Just Got Easier
https://www.barrons.com/articles/sustainable-aviation-0baaf59a
• The polluter must pay for Sustainable Aviation Fuel
https://www.aef.org.uk/2024/07/11/the-polluter-must-pay-for-sustainable-aviation-fuel/
• Lauren Riley: ‘For net-zero to take off, we need a breakthrough in sustainable aviation fuel’
https://www.reuters.com/sustainability/climate-energy/lauren-riley-for-net-zero-take-off-we-need-breakthrough-sustainable-aviation-2024-07-16/
• Sustainable Aviation Fuel Tax Credit Will Have Almost No Farm Impact in 2024 (And What You Can Do About It)
https://www.fb.org/market-intel/sustainable-aviation-fuel-tax-credit-will-have-almost-no-farm-impact-in-2024-and-what-you-can-do-about-it
• Flying towards sustainability: Air Cargo’s Shift to Sustainable Aviation Fuel
https://www.logisticsinsider.in/flying-towards-sustainability-air-cargos-shift-to-sustainable-aviation-fuel/
• Review of technological developments and LCA applications on biobased SAF conversion processes
https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/fuels/articles/10.3389/ffuel.2024.1397962/full
• Supporting the testing and qualification of sustainable aviation fuels (SAF)
https://www.safclearinghouse.uk/net-zero-aviation
• The Big Guide to Sustainable Aviation Fuel
https://climate.benjames.io/saf/
• How the aviation industry could help scale sustainable fuel production
https://www.mckinsey.com/industries/aerospace-and-defense/our-insights/how-the-aviation-industry-could-help-scale-sustainable-fuel-production
• Sustainable aviation fuels are crucial for global Net Zero
https://www.downtoearth.org.in/climate-change/sustainable-aviation-fuels-are-crucial-for-global-net-zero
• BP scales back plans for new renewable diesel, SAF projects but will still more than double coprocessing volumes by 2025
https://www.biobased-diesel.com/post/bp-scales-back-plans-for-new-renewable-diesel-saf-projects-but-will-still-more-than-double-coproces
BIOFUELS
• Shell to pause Dutch biofuels project as market sags
https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/shell-pause-construction-dutch-biofuels-facility-2024-07-02/
• Shell Pulls Back on Big Biofuel Plant
https://www.thedailyupside.com/industries/energy/shell-pulls-back-on-big-biofuel-plant/
• The Role of Biofuels in Decarbonizing Aviation and Shipping
https://www.azocleantech.com/article.aspx?ArticleID=1843
• Oceania Biofuels pulls $500m Gladstone project as another bubble bursts
https://reneweconomy.com.au/oceania-biofuels-pulls-500m-gladstone-project-as-another-bubble-bursts/#google_vignette
… delusional scenarios
NET ZERO 2050
Net zero emissions by 2050 allows ongoing emissions and subtracts from them carbon drawdown needed to cool an already dangerously hot planet
• The aviation industry mess is turning into bad news for the planet
https://edition.cnn.com/2024/07/30/business/air-new-zealand-carbon-emissions/index.html
• Air New Zealand is first major airline to scrap 2030 emissions target
https://www.theguardian.com/business/article/2024/jul/30/air-new-zealand-is-first-major-airline-to-scrap-2030-emissions-target
• Air NZ becomes first big carrier to drop climate goal
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/czrjzvep41ro
• Airline’s Dumped Climate Goal Opens Door for Industry to Follow
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-07-31/air-new-zealand-opens-door-for-other-airlines-to-dump-climate-goals
• Will Airlines Meet Their 2050 Net-Zero Emissions Goal?
https://aviationweek.com/special-topics/sustainability/will-airlines-meet-their-2050-net-zero-emissions-goal
• American Airlines: Aviation & Big Sustainability Challenges
https://sustainabilitymag.com/articles/american-airlines-aviation-big-sustainability-challenges
• The World’s Airlines Push Back On Some Government Environmental Moves
https://aviationweek.com/special-topics/sustainability/worlds-airlines-push-back-some-government-environmental-moves
• Aircraft Delivery Projections Inconsistent With Net-Zero 2050
https://aviationweek.com/special-topics/sustainability/study-aircraft-delivery-projections-inconsistent-net-zero-2050
• Chasing Net Zero Carbon, Aerospace Manufacturing Gets Greener
https://www.ainonline.com/aviation-news/aerospace/2024-07-18/chasing-net-zero-carbon-aerospace-manufacturing-gets-greener
• Net-Zero Carbon Road-Map
https://www.sustainableaviation.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/SA9572_2023CO2RoadMap_Brochure_v4.pdf
• Is the aviation industry ready to reach net zero by 2050?
https://www.airport-technology.com/analysis/is-aviation-ready-net-zero-2050/
• ICCT: Achieving net-zero aviation carbon emissions by 2050 requires all new aircraft to emit net zero CO2 after about 2035
https://www.greencarcongress.com/2024/07/20240722-icct.html
• Lifetime emissions from aircraft under a net-zero carbon budget
all new aircraft delivered by the mid-2030s will need to emit zero net CO2 emissions
https://theicct.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/ID-188-–-Committed-emissions_wp_final.pdf
• All new aircraft should be emission free by 2035 to reach net zero – ICCT
https://www.airport-technology.com/news/aircraft-emissions-free-net-zero-study/
• Fossil-fuel phaseout ‘too late’ to meet aviation industry’s net-zero goals
https://www.thenationalnews.com/business/aviation/2024/07/22/fossil-fuel-phaseout-too-late-to-meet-aviation-industrys-net-zero-goals/
… growth in flights
LONG HAUL FLIGHTS
• New research reveals the impact of long-distance travel on climate
https://www.openaccessgovernment.org/new-research-reveals-the-impact-of-long-distance-travel-on-climate/178898/
• Understanding the large role of long-distance travel in carbon emissions from passenger travel
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41560-024-01561-3
AIRPORTS
• 20 Airports Producing the Most Emissions
https://www.insidermonkey.com/blog/20-airports-producing-the-most-emissions-1322355/
• The Airport Producing the Most Emissions
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/airport-producing-most-emissions-171201923.html
… greenwashing
• Ryanair, Delta, Lufthansa, Easyjet among 71 airlines warned over potential greenwashing
https://www.clientearth.org/latest/press-office/press/ryanair-delta-lufthansa-easyjet-among-71-airlines-warned-over-potential-greenwashing/
… offsets
When all sectors need to reduce their emissions to zero, the aviation industry buys/offsets the reductions of others in order to grow its own emissions. When the planet is already dangerously hot, offsets steal carbon drawdown needed to cool the planet to excuse further emissions.
• Airline industry faces carbon credit shortage in net-zero push
https://www.greenairnews.com/?p=5787
Measuring emissions
REPORTING
• Airlines may have to disclose carbon impact of individuals’ flights under new UK policy
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/article/2024/jul/23/airlines-disclosure-carbon-impact-passengers-individual-flights
EMISSIONS STANDARDS
• EPA clears path to regulate carbon emissions from U.S. aircraft
https://www.reuters.com/article/world/epa-clears-path-to-regulate-carbon-emissions-from-u-s-aircraft-idUSKCN1051XK/
Reducing emissions
… by demand reduction
CAPACITY CAPPING
• Capping aviation emissions – a pressing necessity with a potential solution
https://www.greenairnews.com/?p=5757
• Climate Change Mitigation Policy of International Aviation – a Critical Assessment
https://www.academia.edu/114214863/Climate_Change_Mitigation_Policy_of_International_Aviation_a_Critical_Assessment
… by alternate travel modes
RAIL
• Freight operators will buy new diesel trains if governments don’t back green alternatives, industry says
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/article/2024/jul/15/freight-operators-will-buy-new-diesel-trains-if-governments-dont-back-green-alternatives-industry-says
• Impacts of mode shift on well-to-wheel emissions from inter-capital transport in Australia – Part II: Sea and air transport
https://api-journal.accscience.com/journal/article/preview?doi=10.36922/eer.3471
… by public awareness
AIRPORT PROTESTS
• Flights hit at Frankfurt and Oslo airports as climate protests continue
https://www.theguardian.com/world/article/2024/jul/25/frankfurt-airport-temporarily-halts-flights-after-climate-activists-stage-demonstration
• Flights resume after climate protest at Cologne airport
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cd17j7e528jo
The Climate Emergency
• Quantifying the Impact of Climate Change on Human Health
https://www.weforum.org/publications/quantifying-the-impact-of-climate-change-on-human-health/
• State of the climate: 2024 now very likely to be warmest year on record
https://www.carbonbrief.org/state-of-the-climate-2024-now-very-likely-to-be-warmest-year-on-record/
… impacting flights
• Turbulence takes instant noodles off Korean Air menu
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cv2grdydv65o
