‘This is real progress’: airlines on sustainable aviation fuels and the chances of net zero flying
www.theguardian.com
The EU and UK have imposed mandates, and investors see its value – but the industry has mixed views

Michael O’Leary, chief executive of Ryanair, dismisses SAF as nonsense. He says: “It is all gradually dying a death, which is what it deserves to do. We have just about met our 2% mandate. There is no possibility of meeting 6% by 2030; 10%, not a hope in hell. We’re not going to get to net zero by 2050.”

  • trailee@sh.itjust.works
    2·
    1 month ago

    There’s not a single mention of corn or ethanol in this article, which is an interesting omission. There’s no way to get to global air traffic volumes via used cooking oil.

    Not all new biofuel demand would have to be met with corn. Algae, manure and cooking oil (which some airlines already use in small amounts) also could be sources for jet fuel.

    But experts say the government’s ambitious targets — 35 billion gallons a year of sustainable aviation fuel from all sources by midcentury — require what are essentially dedicated energy crops, particularly corn. To qualify as sustainable aviation fuel under Biden’s tax-credit program, the fuel would have to be produced in a climate-friendly manner, for instance using renewable energy for harvesting, manufacture or transport.

    Of course the Biden programs are now being stripped bare, but this source is a couple years old.

    Corn doesn’t scale further especially well, either, and it’s greenwashing bullshit.

    Corn is a water-intensive crop and it can take hundreds of gallons to produce a single gallon of ethanol. But as airlines embrace the idea of ethanol, prompting lobbyists for ethanol makers and corn growers alike to push for clean-energy tax credits in Washington, vital aquifers face serious risks.

    Scientific studies have long questioned whether ethanol made from corn is in fact more climate-friendly than fossil fuels. Among other things, corn requires a huge amount of land, and it absorbs relatively little carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere as it grows. Planting, fertilizing, watering, harvesting, transporting and distilling corn into ethanol all requires energy, most of which currently comes from fossil fuels.

    The Guardian is discussing European airlines and fuel sources, while NYT is focused on the Biden-era US, but of course there is crossover and they grow corn for ethanol in Europe, too.