- Mark Westwood emphasised immediate steps like aviation traffic management and zero-emission ground vehicles to cut emissions.
- SAF provides a viable, near-term solution, but scaling up supply and managing economic and land-use impacts pose challenges.
- Hydrogen is a promising alternative, requiring production, storage, and infrastructure advancements.
Experts at the Westminster Energy, Environment & Policy Conference on UK aviation decarbonisation warned that the aviation industry has advanced in alternative fuels, but greenhouse gas emissions keep rising.
Mark Westwood, head of the Cranfield Centre of Aeronautics, noted the industry’s swift progress since the COVID-19 pandemic: “Pre-Covid, the aerospace industry didn’t talk much about alternative fuels. Greenhouse gas concentrations increased again in the last 12 months.”
Westwood stressed the need for operational efficiencies as the top priority. He cited critical steps for air traffic management, zero-emission ground vehicles, and minimising aircraft auxiliary power unit use. “Every tonne of CO2 we save today won’t sit in the atmosphere for 100 years.”
Westwood ranked sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) as the second priority, calling it “a drop-in solution” with few technological barriers. He highlighted challenges like scaling supply, economic viability, and land use impacts.
“Synthetically produced liquid hydrocarbons, or ‘power-to-liquid’ fuels, look promising,” he said, but they need substantial renewable energy. Hydrogen, the third priority, faces issues in production, storage, transport, and aircraft design but holds significant potential.
The conference highlighted air travel’s growth and emissions impact. Andrew Chadwick of Connected Places Catapult warned: “Global demand will grow, and our emissions will increase unless we improve energy efficiency and adopt low-carbon fuels.” He noted that non-CO2 effects compound aviation’s warming impact, making the industry responsible for about 5% of global warming.
Neil Cloughley, CEO of Faradair Aerospace, argued that the industry has progressed: “We have much cleaner engines today.”
Cranfield University recently secured a £69 million grant for hydrogen research, underscoring the UK’s potential to lead. Despite these efforts, accelerating decarbonisation remains essential.