GreenAir News
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Reporting on aviation's climate and environmental impact
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Neste in new Europe and Asia SAF supply commitments with Ryanair and Cathay Pacific

by Tony Harrington

European low-cost carrier Ryanair and Hong Kong’s Cathay Pacific have announced new commitments to sustainable aviation fuel produced by the Finnish waste-to-fuel provider Neste. Ryanair has announced it will operate about one third of its flights from Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport with a 40% blend of SAF, as part of its commitment to 12.5% SAF use across its operations by 2030, while Cathay Pacific has launched a pilot programme through which its corporate customers can contribute to the purchase of SAF to help offset the emissions of their business travel or air freight shipments. Both deals coincide with a 15-fold increase…
World Energy teams with Air Products in new $2 billion SAF production project in California

by Tony Harrington

A new industrial consortium will develop a renewable fuel hub on the US west coast, with capacity to produce 340 million gallons (almost 1.3 billion litres) of sustainable aviation fuel per year from 2025. The lead partners in the $2 billion project are World Energy, the world’s first commercial-scale SAF producer, global industrial gases company Air Products and Honeywell, a specialist in SAF production technology. The new fuel plant, to be built and owned by Air Products, will be located at World Energy’s renewable fuel facility in Paramount, California. World Energy will be responsible for SAF production operations while Air…
International partnership to produce e-kerosene using CO2 extracted from cement production

by Tony Harrington

An international consortium has been formed to produce sustainable aviation fuels in Germany by combining carbon dioxide extracted from cement production with green hydrogen generated from wind and solar energy. CEMEX, a global construction materials group headquartered in Mexico, will supply CO2 generated at its cement plant in Rüdersdorf, near Berlin, the green hydrogen will come from the German renewable energy company ENERTRAG and the ecoFT business unit of South African energy and chemicals group Sasol will provide the technology to convert the combined CO2 and hydrogen to e-kerosene for blending with jet fuel. The three companies are equal partners…
New Zealand and Singapore consider ‘green lanes’ as governments sign sustainable aviation partnership

by Tony Harrington

The governments of Singapore and New Zealand will consider introducing ‘green lanes’ for travellers between the countries to help encourage consumer use of flights powered by sustainable aviation fuels. The idea is contained in a groundbreaking Sustainable Aviation Arrangement between the countries, which was signed during a visit to Singapore by New Zealand’s Prime Minister, Jacinda Ardern. The agreement is the first bilateral cooperation on sustainable aviation for both countries, which, together with their aviation industries, have each been exploring decarbonisation measures including sustainable aviation fuel, hydrogen propulsion for aircraft and enabling infrastructure. In addition to studying green lanes, the…
New sustainable fuel partnerships formed as Japan strives for 10% SAF use by 2030

by Tony Harrington

Two new European-Japanese industrial partnerships have been formed to progress the transition of Japan’s air transport sector to sustainable fuels. Paris-based TotalEnergies has joined with Tokyo-based ENEOS Corporation to conduct a feasibility study into the production of sustainable aviation fuel at the latter’s Negishi Refinery by 2025, while aircraft manufacturer Airbus has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Japanese industrial group Kawasaki Heavy Industries to collaborate on the production of hydrogen fuel, its delivery to airports and its supply to aircraft. The announcements coincided with the release of a new study by global business consultancy McKinsey which highlighted increased…
Regulate jet fuel’s aromatics content to reduce non-CO2 impacts of aviation, says Dutch report

by Christopher Surgenor

Although research is ongoing, it is widely accepted aviation’s contribution to global warming goes well beyond that caused by carbon dioxide emissions alone. One of the main non-CO2 impacts is the net warming effect from the formation of contrails and contrail cirrus caused when aircraft engines emit particulates (soot) at altitude in ice-supersaturated regions. The main culprit is the aromatic content of jet fuel, and fuels with a higher concentration of aromatics and especially naphthalene, a bicyclic aromatic compound, cause higher particulate emissions because aromatics burn slower than other hydrocarbons. Sustainable aviation fuels, on the hand, have negligible concentrations of…
Hydrogen-electric aviation propulsion pioneer ZeroAvia has signed an MoU and new partnership with hydrogen fuelling firm ZEV Station to develop green hydrogen refuelling infrastructure for airports in California. They will work together on developing an initial regional airport project. https://www.zeroavia.com/zev-station
A new Zero Emission Flight Delivery Group of aviation experts across UK industry and government has been launched to advance latest innovations in aviation decarbonisation technology. The government is to provide an additional £685m for the Aerospace Technology Institute programme over three years. https://www.gov.uk/government/news/planes-running-on-batteries-and-hydrogen-to-become-a-reality-under-new-group-of-aviation-experts
The FAA and US airports have launched an Airport Climate Challenge to help achieve the Biden-Harris Administration goal of net zero emissions by 2050. Airports can take advantage of several FAA funding programmes to meet the goal, including grants for low or zero emissions vehicles and renewable energy production. https://www.faa.gov/newsroom/faa-us-airports-team-meet-2050-net-zero-climate-challenge
Former VP Environmental Affairs at industry association Airlines for America, where she served for 14 years, Nancy Young has joined Washington-based SAF producer Alder Fuels as Chief Sustainability Officer. Last September, United Airlines and Honeywell announced a multimillion-dollar investment in the company.
JetBlue Technology Ventures is investing as a limited partner in TPG Rise Climate, a multi-billion-dollar investment fund focused on climate solutions at scale. The fund works collaboratively with companies, entrepreneurs and scientists across five key climate sub-sectors, including decarbonised transport. https://blueir.investproductions.com/investor-relations/press-releases/2022/04-20-2022-132218578
Boeing is to support an initiative at the Yale Center for Natural Carbon Capture to address climate change through a programme of scientific research and solution-oriented innovations. The 5-year, $10m commitment will fund research methods for carbon capture at scale. https://boeing.mediaroom.com/news-releases-statements?item=131038
In its Green Airports Recognition 2022, ACI Asia-Pacific has recognised 12 airports in the APAC/ME regions for outstanding achievements in carbon management. Platinum awards, relating to airport size, went to Hong Kong, Kempegowda, Christchurch and Hawke’s Bay airports. https://www.aci-asiapac.aero/advocacy/environment/green-airports-recognition
EasyJet is to support the development of GKN Aerospace’s Hydrogen Combustion (H2JET) and Hydrogen Fuel Cell (H2GEAR) technology, including exploring the options for flight demonstration. H2GEAR is a UK collaboration aiming to develop a liquid hydrogen propulsion system. https://mediacentre.easyjet.com/story/15484/easyjet-partners-with-gkn-aerospace-to-accelerate-adoption-of-hydrogen-in-aviation
SATAVIA and ACX partner on first-ever carbon trade to monetise aviation’s non-CO2 impacts

by Christopher Surgenor

Weather prediction and navigational technology developer SATAVIA is partnering with AirCarbon Exchange (ACX) to support trading of carbon credits generated by SATAVIA’s contrail prevention technology. The company’s atmospheric modelling enables aircraft operators to optimise flight plans for avoiding contrails, which contribute substantially to aviation’s non-CO2 climate impact. The subsequent climate benefit, say the partners, can be converted into tradable carbon credits in a new market they estimate could be worth up to $9 billion at current nominal voluntary carbon pricing, which is forecast to rise tenfold by 2030. A first ACX trade to monetise contrail prevention activity coincided with a…
Neste to supply over 50 million gallons of SAF to United Airlines for flights from Schiphol

by Christopher Surgenor

United Airlines has entered into a purchase agreement with Neste that provides the right to buy up to 52.5 million gallons of sustainable aviation fuel over the next three years for United flights departing from Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport, and potentially other airports as well. The deal makes it Neste’s largest to date with a passenger airline and also the first by a US airline to sign an international SAF purchase agreement. United’s Chief Sustainability Officer, Lauren Riley, said the airline had invested more than any other airline so far in SAF production and that it made sense to expand its…
Meeting 2030 SAF targets in the US and Europe needs rapid action on capacity and feedstocks, says report

by Tony Harrington

A new market report by SkyNRG, the Amsterdam-based global provider of sustainable aviation fuels, predicts that both the US and Europe will fall short of their 2030 SAF targets unless production capacity is increased and fuel feedstock sources are expanded, and estimates the need for more than 450 new facilities to meet the 2050 goals of both markets. The report says current US announcements of SAF production rely predominantly on the availability of fats, oils and greases (FOGs), and corn ethanol, “with an optimistic perspective on the availability of FOGs”. It believes a lack of production incentives will limit use…
T&E launches campaign urging corporates to commit to cutting business travel emissions by half

by Christopher Surgenor

European NGO Transport & Environment (T&E) and a coalition of 13 partners have launched a campaign urging corporates to address their travel emissions and lower the level of trips being made for business. They say the dramatic fall in business travel and the rise in the use of videoconferencing as a result of the Covid pandemic presents a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to lock in emission reductions from global corporate flying. Reducing business flights can also make a significant contribution at a time when there is pressure to reduce dependency on oil, they add, as highlighted in a recent 10-point plan issued…
First net zero emissions transatlantic flight to take place in 2023, pledges UK government

by Christopher Surgenor

The UK government has revealed it expects the first-ever net zero transatlantic flight to take place as early as next year, with an aircraft to be powered solely by 100% sustainable aviation fuel. The announcement came during a visit to the US by Transport Secretary Grant Shapps, who during a meeting with airline executives invited the international sector to work closely with the government to deliver the demonstrator flight. The government says it is committed to drive forward the SAF industry, which had the potential to deliver significant carbon savings, improve domestic fuel security, support thousands of green jobs and…