SUSTAINABLE AVIATION FUEL: A SPECIAL REPORT

Both Airbus and Boeing are in the process of developing aircraft technologically compatible with 100 per cent SAF. Numerous demonstration flights have been conducted to show that burning “neat” SAF is possible without compromising safety

- JOSEPH NORONHA

MANY PEOPLE PERHAPS FEEL THAT THE DANGER OF catastrophic and irreversible climate change caused by global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions is something comfortably remote. It may happen in the distant future – perhaps around the turn of the century – and by then science would probably find viable solutions and avert any crisis. However, according to a new update issued by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) in May 2023, there is a 66 per cent chance that the annual average near-surface global temperature between 2023 and 2027 will be more than 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels for at least one year. The temperature could again drop from that peak, but that is cold comfort. Climate scientists believe that a rise of 1.5°C is a climate change red line and overshooting it even for a few years is risky. It may trigger tipping points that cannot be uncrossed – such as the melting of permafrost that would, in turn, release vast amounts of trapped CO2 and intensify global warming.

The aviation industry is also acutely aware that although it is not a major emitter of GHG its share of global emissions will rise steeply in tandem with traffic growth. By the end of 2023 the global commercial aviation fleet could reach an all-time high of 28,000 planes and Boeing estimates that the number of aircraft would balloon to around 47,000 by 2040. For these tens of thousands of airliners to keep burning fossil fuel and spewing CO2 into the atmosphere is clearly unsustainable.