The Aviation Industry Is Investing In Sustainable Fuel, But More Is Needed
The U.S. airline industry has set an ambitious goal to be net carbon neutral by 2050. To some this may seem like a long way off, but consider this is an industry worldwide that was built on using fossil fuels. Given the long lead time and risk to develop new aircraft, 2050 seems like it’s right around the corner. The two most popular commercial planes in the world, the Boeing 737 family and the Airbus A320 family, first took to the skies 56 and 36 years ago, respectively. The newer models are of course more efficient than these first models, but the underlying engineering for both planes is decades old. Sustainable aircraft fuel, or SAF, is one encouraging development for a more sustainable airline future. SAF uses fossil fuel by-products or plant based sources to create fuel for existing aircraft engines. With enough SAF, world airlines could become almost immediately net carbon neutral because their energy needs would no longer require any new oil drilling. The problem is the amount of SAF being produced at rates airlines could buy is tiny compared to the industry’s energy needs. Delta and DG Fuels have announced a partnership that is less ambitious in total but may happen sooner. Shell Oil is partnering with multiple air operators to push the development of more SAF. These are all encouraging signs that the industry takes their sustainability target seriously and sees SAF as an important component of that strategy. The challenge is that this is still far short of what is needed. The International Air Transport Association (IATA) has projected a massive increase in the need for SAF production in order to meet their target for 2050 net neutrality.