London
Act Daily News
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Rich vacationers should pay extra to fly if the aviation business is to transition to greener fuels, the boss of one of many world’s largest airports mentioned Tuesday.
Speaking on a panel on the World Economic Forum in Davos hosted by Act Daily News’s Richard Quest, Heathrow CEO John Holland-Kaye mentioned that rich people and corporations ought to pay further to fly with sustainable aviation gas (SAF) with a purpose to carry the prices down for everybody else, notably individuals in creating international locations.
He mentioned that financiers and vitality suppliers ought to spend money on SAF manufacturing, together with in rising markets.
“But as individuals and companies we need to be paying the premium for sustainable aviation fuels so that we can get the cost of it down so that the mass market and developing countries don’t have to pay for the energy transition. The wealthy people in this room and wealthy nations should be funding the energy transition in aviation to help support developing countries,” he added.
Holland-Kaye mentioned the answer to sustainable aviation was to not fly much less, which was not essentially an possibility outdoors Northern Europe, however to make use of cleaner sources of vitality to journey.
SAF is considered as essential to decreasing aviation’s carbon emissions however its inexperienced credentials come at a hefty worth. Some airways enable passengers to offset their CO2 emissions by paying extra for his or her tickets to cowl the additional price of utilizing SAF, however only a few vacationers at the moment make use of this feature.
Holland-Kaye mentioned that corporations can play a serious position accelerating the adoption of SAF as a result of business journey accounts for about 30% of gas utilized in aviation. He cited the instance of Microsoft
(MSFT), which has an inside carbon tax for journey that requires every business unit to pay a payment primarily based on its carbon emissions.
Produced primarily from recycled meals and agricultural waste, comparable to used cooking oil, SAF is a sort of biofuel that cuts greenhouse gasoline emissions by 80% in comparison with standard jet gas.
It additionally prices between two and eight occasions greater than its fossil-fuel primarily based various, which is why in 2019 it accounted for simply 0.1% of jet gas utilized in industrial aviation, in line with a report by the World Economic Forum and McKinsey.
In 2021, the business pledged to changed 10% of worldwide jet gas provide with SAF by 2030. This 12 months, Virgin Atlantic plans to fly a Boeing 787 from London to New York powered solely by SAF in what has been billed because the world’s first net-zero transatlantic flight.
Clean vitality investments want a serious enhance if the world is to satisfy its local weather targets, in line with Fatih Birol, govt director of the International Energy Agency. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has prompted a surge in funding in renewables as international locations race to safe various vitality provides, however far more must be completed, he mentioned.
Speaking on one other Davos panel hosted by Act Daily News’s Julia Chatterley earlier on Tuesday, Birol mentioned that for each greenback invested in fossil fuels, the world is now investing $1.50 in clear vitality. That wants to extend to $9 to maintain world warming beneath 1.5 levels Celsius, he added.
— Anna Cooban contributed reporting.