New Energy World™
New Energy World™ embraces the whole energy industry as it connects and converges to address the decarbonisation challenge. It covers progress being made across the industry, from the dynamics under way to reduce emissions in oil and gas, through improvements to the efficiency of energy conversion and use, to cutting-edge initiatives in renewable and low-carbon technologies.
In flight: the future of green aviation
1/5/2024
9 min read
Feature
The aviation sector faces significant transformation in a bid to cut greenhouse gas emissions. Developments are underway in deployment of sustainable aviation fuels (SAFs), hydrogen and electric aviation. Runeel Daliah, Principal Analyst at Lux Research, presents a new report on new initiatives in the sector that aims to fly more passengers while reducing carbon footprints.
The aviation passenger count is expected to recover to pre-pandemic levels by 2025, with about four billion passengers and a potential surge to eight billion annually thereafter. However, without significant intervention, this increase would lead to a dramatic rise in CO2 emissions from 2bn t/y today to 3bn t/y, according to our report.
To address this vast rise in emissions, global initiatives, led by the International Air Transport Association (IATA), are aiming for net zero emissions by 2050, with a raft of measures to achieve climate neutrality.
To put the issue in perspective, Lux Research’s analysis uses British Airways as an example of an airline operator which has a significant global presence, with over 250 aircraft and flights to over 200 destinations worldwide. Like its counterparts, British Airways must implement strategies to meet the net zero target by 2050.