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Sustainable supply chains and the road to net zero

Posted on June 29, 2022June 26, 2022 by dishanth

There were 131 billion parcels shipped worldwide in 2020 — a figure that is predicted to double in the next five years. Asia represents a huge market for global trade and logistics with the continent expected to account for 57 per cent of the growth of the global e-commerce logistics markets between 2020 and 2025.

But getting things from A to B creates an enormous carbon footprint.

Transportation was responsible for 8.26 gigatons, or about 26 per cent, of CO2 emissions globally in 2018, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA). Freight, the transport of goods, accounts for more than 7 per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions, according to the International Transport Forum.

Slashing planet-warming gases produced by transport and logistics will be instrumental in helping nations and corporates hit their climate goals.

A raft of corporate net-zero commitments has largely led to rapid efforts to drive down direct Scope 1 and Scope 2 greenhouse gas emissions. More organisations are pledging to reduce Scope 3 emissions generated upstream and downstream of the value chain and those embodied in transport and distribution.

Supply chains have become longer, more complex as logistics networks link more economic centres together and consumer preferences change leading to more regular, smaller freight shipments and rapid delivery by energy-intensive transport such as air freight.

While Europe and North America dominate historic transport emissions, much of the projected growth in emissions is in Asia, according to the World Economic Forum which reckons that highly ambitious policies could cut emissions by 70 per cent – but not to zero.

Operating in 220 countries and territories, Germany-headquartered Deutsche Post DHL Group is one of the largest logistics firms in the world. It also produced 33.3 million tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions in 2020.

The organisation has pegged its pathway to decarbonisation on reducing annual group carbon dioxide emissions to below 29 million tonnes by 2030 as it attempts to hit zero emissions by 2050. An investment of US$7.6 billion until 2030 will be funnelled into alternative aviation fuels, the expansion of electric vehicles and climate-neutral buildings, the group announced on 22 March.

“Logistics is a key contributor to the global carbon footprint. DHL occupies a big share of global logistics,” said Amrita Khadilkar, regional director, Operations Development, Digitalisation and GoGreen, APAC.

“In order to accelerate the move towards net zero carbon logistics, more work needs to be done to develop solutions within transport,” Khadilkar said. Private sector efforts alone are not enough, governments and policymakers must also buoy decarbonisation efforts.

From burning less, to burning clean

The S-curve charts the firm’s path to net zero logistics emissions.

The early climb on the solid S-curve represents carbon reduction strategies through supply chain efficiencies using existing technology that will enable the firm to burn fewer fossil fuels.

Carbon offsets are used to compensate for the hard-to-abate emissions and bridge the leap to the second dotted line S-curve—which represents the impending usage of new and currently less familiar types of technologies and approaches for carbon reduction—the final leg to net zero.

On this ‘burn clean’ pathway, the company sees the removal of carbon through sustainable fuels and alternative technologies, such as electric vehicles.

The S-curve framework – used to illustrate the typical pattern of start, rapid growth and maturity of technology diffusion as well as the corresponding efficiency improvements across an industry or economy – is one way to guide carbon reduction in logistics. This is achieved by reducing, compensating and removing. [Click to enlarge]. Image: DHL

However, there are several roadblocks to getting transport and logistics firms to burn clean fuels and move closer to net zero. Initial efforts show that firms find it challenging to navigate this road alone without meaningful collaboration.

“Most logistics firms have the know-how for reducing their carbon footprint using their existing technologies and familiar ways of working. But that will only take them so far as per the solid S-curve,” said Professor Emeritus Steven Miller, former vice provost (Research), Singapore Management University.

“To make the required progress in carbon reduction, companies need to jump to the next-generation (dotted line) S-curve enabled by new technology and new ways of working which will enable far greater opportunities for carbon footprint reduction,” he added.

Transport is still largely dependent on fossil fuels and is likely to remain so in the coming decades. Long-distance road freight (large trucks), aviation and shipping are areas from which carbon is particularly difficult to eliminate.

The potential for hydrogen as a fuel, or battery electricity to run planes, ships and large trucks is limited by the range and power required; the size and weight of batteries or hydrogen fuel tanks would be much larger and heavier than current combustion engines.

Currently, the logistics sector has low clean-technology maturity and high costs for such, such as new energy vehicles (NEVs), sustainable fuels, according to DHL. Supporting infrastructure like charging ports for EVs and access to renewable energy is currently lacking in some markets, driving up the cost of sustainable alternatives further. Meanwhile, aviation is still grappling with hitting on a viable low-carbon strategy.

“Some of the sustainable technologies and solutions in the early stages may not be commercially viable or operationally scalable,” acknowledged Khadilkar.

The IEA says that there needs to be deep cuts in fossil fuels to reach the mid-century target of limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius.

Climate Action 100+, the world’s largest grouping of investors representing US$65 trillion in assets, warned in March that the aviation industry needed to take “urgent action” to align with the world’s climate goal. Its report highlighted the need for a “substantial” increase in sustainable aviation fuel between now and 2030.

Collaboration is key

In a bid to cut the reliance on fossil fuels in its air freight, DHL has set an ambitious goal of using 30 per cent sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) for all air transport by 2030.

Last month, DHL announced one of the largest SAF deals with bp and Neste which have committed to provide 800 million litres until 2026. DHL expects its strategic collaborations to save about two million tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions over the aviation fuel lifecycle – equivalent to the annual greenhouse gas emissions of about 400,000 passenger cars.

Tackling emissions created on land, DHL teamed up with Swedish firm, Volvo Trucks to introduce heavy duty electric delivery trucks for regional transport in Europe. The initiative is buoyed with funding from the country’s innovation agency, Vinnova and energy agency.

The adoption of new fuel technologies, essential to helping firms complete the journey to zero carbon emissions, requires partnering with governments to fund research and development efforts. Public investment in higher-risk programmes can also lead to the development of potentially disruptive technologies for energy applications.

“Government support can improve the rate of adoption of such technologies or solutions,” said Khadilkar. “Government incentives can also enable more research in green technologies and speed up any efforts to bring them to market.”

This would also reduce the cost. While companies like DHL and its industry peers can pilot new green technologies into freight, the cost will have to be shouldered by the consumer to some extent. Customers and companies say they want to live more sustainably but not all are willing to pay a premium to enable it.

Firms can only edge closer to net zero through trial and error. “Governments need to help through more research and development support, staging and coordinating larger scale domestic and international field trials, and by providing incentives for relevant business investments in new technology and capital, as well as in the related needs for human learning and training to work with these new technologies,” Miller said.

The adoption of sustainable alternatives has accelerated in countries where governments are offering financial support. This includes subsides and incentives through tax relief. Government subsidies have helped China become the world’s largest market for EVs. It is expected to exceed the government 2025 target and hit 20 per cent nationwide penetration this year.

“Investing or promoting green infrastructure can enable local businesses’ operations to be greener—through available and affordable renewable energy or developed local EV charging infrastructure, for example. A regulatory push such as inner city emissions regulation, or incentives like tax breaks, subsidies, are other ways we have seen help accelerate sustainability efforts,” said Kevin Jungnitsch, project manager & APAC sustainability lead, DHL Consulting APAC office.

Governments have also proven that they can help reduce emissions created by last-mile delivery.

In Singapore, a nationwide parcel delivery locker network spearheaded by the Infocomm Media Development Authority of Singapore allows e-commerce platforms and their customers collect and return online purchases using parcel lockers scattered across the city. It is expected to reduce the distance travelled for delivery purposes by 44 per cent daily and the city state’s CO2 emissions by up to 50 tonnes a year.

Waste also needs to be addressed. Out of the 1.56 million tonnes of household waste generated in Singapore in 2018, approximately one-third was packaging, according to a study by the World Wide Fund for Nature and DHL Consulting published in November. About 2000,000 e-commerce parcels are delivered daily in the city state, and this is expected to grow by about 50 per cent in the next three years.

In a bid to stem the tide of waste, a six-month pilot scheme was launched last month in Singapore to encourage shoppers to return packaging from their online purchases and encourage retailers to adopt a circular waste model. The pilot is an attempt to tackle the mountains of waste caused by the high volume of online shopping.

Navigating the decarbonisation road map

Supply chains are coming under greater scrutiny as firms and countries accelerate efforts to decarbonise. If the transport and logistics industry fails to respond effectively, it is likely to face significant and rapid regulatory tightening, and ever greater scrutiny from capital markets.

Strong public-private partnerships are needed to accelerate the necessary transition to the new generation of technology and new supporting business processes and ways of working in order to get supply chains to net zero carbon emissions, Miller added.

The private sector and government institutions could follow a simple framework to prompt deeper discussion and action surrounding the acceleration of adopting decarbonising logistics. This begins with a discovery phase where current infrastructure, resources and technologies are evaluated, sustainability challenges assessed, and key areas of focus are prioritised.

Embedding sustainability into corporate governance could help influence the decision-making that flows into the supply chain. This includes measures such as introducing mandatory sustainability requirements around reporting and transparency.

The challenge for governments will be to encourage companies to form robust decarbonisation plans with supporting incentives so that no single player is penalised for taking the harder path to sustainability.

Lastly, companies on the path to net zero need to examine each aspect of decarbonisation and identify where they can follow, share or lead on aspects of the net zero journey. While some firms will be able to distinguish themselves as sustainable leaders in some areas, they will also need to make alliances with public and private stakeholders.

But time is of the essence as capping the global temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels — a target key to avoiding the worst climate impacts — is slipping further out of reach.

“Climate promises and plans must be turned into reality and action now,” said Antonio Guterres, secretary-general of the United Nations, following a clarion call by hundreds of scientists last month to take action against climate change. “It is time to stop burning our planet, and start investing in the abundant renewable energy all around us.”

Source Eco Business

‘It keeps on going’: driving the world’s first production-ready solar car

Posted on June 28, 2022 by dishanth

Winding past the ochre-coloured plateaux of the Bardenas Reales natural park in northern Spain, Roel Grooten nudged me to take my foot off the accelerator.

The car continued to barrel down the open stretch of road, its speed dipping only slightly. “It keeps on going,” said Grooten, the lead engineer for the Dutch car company Lightyear, as we whizzed through the lunar-like landscape. “What you feel is nothing holding you back. You feel the aerodynamics, you feel the low-rolling resistance of the tyres, of the bearings and the motor.”

It is this streamlined design that the company credits for allowing it to muscle its way into a space long overlooked by most car manufacturers. As early as November, the company will start delivery of what it describes as the “world’s first production-ready solar car” – the Lightyear 0, a €250,000 (£215,000) sedan draped in 5 sq metres of curved solar panels that top up the electric battery while the car is driving or parked outdoors.

“If we would have the same amount of energy that we harvest on these panels on any other car that uses three times the amount of energy to drive, it becomes useless. It becomes a very expensive gimmick,” said Grooten. “You have to build this car from the ground up, to make it as efficient as possible, to make it this feasible.”

In optimal conditions, the solar panels can add up to 44 miles a day to the 388-mile range the car gets between charges, according to the company. Tests carried out by Lightyear suggest people with a daily commute of less than 22 miles could drive for two months in the Netherlands without needing to plug in, while those in sunnier climes such as Portugal or Spain could go as long as seven months.

In optimal conditions, the solar panels can add up to 44 miles a day to the 388-mile range the car gets between charges. Photograph: Nacho Bueno Gil/The Guardian

But whether the company’s gamble on solar will pay off remains to be seen, said Jim Saker, professor emeritus at Loughborough University and president of the Institute of the Motor Industry.

“You’re having to pay an awful lot of money and have solar panels stuck on the car for just 44 additional miles. The question mark at the moment is the fact that, in reality, is that actually worth it? The actual concept isn’t bad. It’s just whether the technology is actually viable to make it economically sustainable for anybody wanting to do this.”

Sales of the Lightyear 0 would probably be limited to a handful of early adopters, he added. “But in reality, it’s not a commercial proposition at the moment.”

Others questioned the idea of a car being touted as a salve to the ever deepening climate crisis. “The most sustainable way to approach car ownership is actually to avoid it entirely, if you can at all,” said Vera O’Riordan, a PhD student focusing on low-carbon pathways and policies for passenger transport at University College Cork in Ireland.

While electric vehicles may have a limited role to play in rural areas that lack public transport, she cited research suggesting these vehicles are often sold to high-income households in urban areas. “So you have to ask yourself the question: are you serving this individualised, very inefficient, very harmful and traffic-inducing transport in urban areas where it could otherwise be perfectly met by public transport and walking and cycling?”

The need to move away from cars to tackle the climate emergency is – perhaps surprisingly – echoed by Lex Hoefsloot, the 31-year-old chief executive of Lightyear, who has raised about €150m in investment to get it running.

“It would be great, I fully agree,” he said. “But I think we’re not going to change our lives too much. Perhaps, when we’re really panicking in 20 years, we might. But in the meantime, we have to work around that.”

Since 2016 the company has championed solar energy as a key part of this work-around, envisioning solar cars capable of running on clean energy and accelerating the transition away from polluting fossil fuels. “People were saying it wasn’t possible, mostly because of the limited amount of solar power you could get on a car,” said Hoefsloot.

Roel Grooten, the lead engineer, explains the car’s controls. Photograph: Nacho Bueno Gil/The Guardian

His own experience, however, suggested otherwise. The Lightyear 0 – a sleek four-wheel drive – traces its roots to a squat box-on-wheels that ferried four helmet-clad university students across the Australian outback to win in its class in the 2013 world solar challenge.

“If it works in Australia, then it works everywhere. That was the thinking,” said Hoefsloot, who founded Lightyear with four other members of the solar challenge team. “Early days, I must admit there was a hesitation whether we should go full car manufacturing, because we all know it’s not the easiest thing. But there was nobody else out there that was really willing to or doing something similar.”

In recent years there has been an upswell of interest in integrating solar panels into cars: Mercedes-Benz recently revealed plans to outfit an upcoming electric car with rooftop solar panels, while Toyota has at times offered limited-capacity solar panels as an add-on to its Prius hybrid.

Next year, Munich-based Sono Motors plans to roll out a €28,500 solar-assisted family car, while the California-based startup Aptera Motors said in 2020 that preorders for its futuristic three-wheeled solar electric vehicle sold out in less than 24 hours.

With months left before the Lightyear 0’s production run, there are still kinks to be worked out, from a stiff steering wheel to the buzz that at times fills the car when the air conditioning kicks in.

Once you are in the car, there is little about the driving experience that feels different from other electric cars – “That’s a huge compliment, that’s what we’re aiming for,” one staff member tells me – save for a smattering of reminders about the constant drip feed of solar energy. One screen shows exactly what cells are feeding off the sun at any given moment, while another quantifies how much solar energy is being absorbed.

The car’s body panels are made from reclaimed carbon fibre. Photograph: Nacho Bueno Gil/The Guardian

In an effort to use as much of this solar energy as possible, the windswept design eschews side-view mirrors for cameras and runs off lightweight electric motors tucked into its wheels. The body panels are crafted from reclaimed carbon fibre and the interiors are fashioned from vegan, plant-based leather with fabrics made from recycled polyethylene terephthalate bottles.

The 20-minute test run is probably the only time I will sit at the wheel of the Lightyear 0. With its hefty price tag – ideally paid by those who have an outdoor parking space to maximise the car’s gain from the sun – it is not a car for the masses.

Instead, the company envisions the production run, which will offer up to 946 vehicles for delivery across Europe and the UK, as a beginning of sorts. “This is a small scale to validate to the world that we can produce a car,” said Telian Franken, the prototype team lead.

From there, the company will shift its focus to a second solar-assisted electric car it is aiming to sell for about €30,000 as early as 2025. “We’re trying to make the difference, not for the millionaire who can afford a €250,000 car, but to get us to the point where the average person can get off grid – get a reliable sustainable vehicle that beats toe-for-toe any econo-box you can get at the time,” said Franken, citing the Toyota Corolla or Honda Accord as examples. “That’s what we’re trying to beat – and replace – because it’s not sustainable.”

Source The Guardian

Asian tycoons lead push to make world’s cheapest green hydrogen in India

Posted on June 27, 2022June 26, 2022 by dishanth

When Indian transport minister Nitin Gadkari arrived in parliament in a car fuelled by green hydrogen in March this year, he signalled the country’s big ambition for fuel billed as crucial for the energy transition and the fight against climate change.

“India will soon become a green hydrogen exporting country,” he said.

The government’s vision has captured the imagination of industry players in India, where two of Asia’s richest tycoons, Mukesh Ambani and Gautam Adani, are now racing to produce the world’s cheapest green hydrogen.

If they achieve their goal, the sector could potentially transform the world’s third-largest energy consumer and carbon emitter. But it will likely take at least a decade for India to realise its green hydrogen hopes, analysts say.

On 15 June, Adani announced that it had sold a quarter of the equity in group company Adani New Industries to France’s TotalEnergies and planned to invest $50 billion over the next decade in green hydrogen.

“Our confidence in our ability to produce the world’s least expensive electron is what will drive our ability to produce the world’s least expensive green hydrogen,” Gautam Adani, chairman of Adani Group, said in a statement.

India’s green hydrogen ecosystem could be a 1-2 trillion dollar industry over the next 20-25 years. – Rajat Seksaria, CEO, ACME Group

Reliance Industries’ chief executive, Mukesh Ambani, too, has pledged to produce green hydrogen at $1 per kg — which is about 60 per cent cheaper than today’s price — and plans to invest $75 billion in renewable energy production and equipment.

The plans of the two business groups alone can clean up thousands of tonnes of emissions, because Adani Group owns a chain of coal mines and coal-based power plants, while Reliance boasts of the world’s biggest petrochemical refinery as well as some of the country’s largest oil and natural gas assets.

Analysts expect both Ambani and Adani to not only replace their industrial use and production of fossil fuels at home, but to also target exports of green hydrogen.

Green hydrogen, which is produced by splitting water into hydrogen and oxygen using renewable energy, could replace fossil fuels for a variety of uses including the manufacture of commodities like steel and fertiliser as well as transport fuel.

A lot will depend on government policy support as well as improved technology to cut the high cost of fuel (around $6 per kg) that puts it beyond the reach of the majority of consumers, analysts say.

Pipe dream?

“I think we are quite far away from what the big majors are announcing and where we are at this point of time,” says Vinay Rustagi, managing director of Bridge to India, a renewable energ consultancy firm.

“Everybody is hoping that green hydrogen will be almost like a silver bullet. But it’s a technology in the nascent stages and there is lack of clarity on the manufacturing plans,” Rustagi said.

There are several key challenges that are looming for the sector.

India will need to build manufacturing capacity for electrolysers, the equipment that splits water into hydrogen and oxygen, which is still a niche market worldwide, notes Thirumalai NC, sector head, strategic studies at Center for Study of Science, Technology & Policy (CSTEP), a Bengalaru-based thinktank.

The capacity to make electrolysers as well as better technology will be crucial to slash production costs by a third to below $2 per kg – a price level at which large-scale industrial demand is likely to kick in, say analysts.

India would also need to set up infrastructure for storage as well as pipelines that are mostly absent except for some ageing equipment, analysts added.

New Delhi would also need to source materials such as iridium, scandium, yttrium, and platinum, which are not easily available in the country and would be needed in abundance.

The federal government has started taking steps and in February announced a National Hydrogen Mission, outlining a program to incentivise the production of green hydrogen such as by offering cheaper land and fee waivers for electricity transmission across provinces.

The government is expected to flesh out the initial announcement with a more detailed program in about a month with specific mandates for sectors such as chemicals, fertiliser and steel to use the fuel.

India plans to produce five million tons of green hydrogen by 2030, which is nearly the same amount as it produces now using natural gas to mainly make fertilisers.

Global ambitions

The bold ambitions made by Indian policymakers have convinced several Indian companies besides Reliance and the Adani to make moves to develop green hydrogen.

Renewables energy company ACME Group has already set up an integrated green hydrogen and ammonia plant in Bikaner in the north-western state of Rajasthan, investing about $20 million to produce up to 1,800 tons of green fuel and five tonnes per day of green ammonia that is used to make fertiliser.

The group is also developing one of the world’s largest green ammonia projects in Oman with an annual production capacity of 0.9 million tonnes, which will likely be operational by 2024. The $3.3 billion-facility will cater to European and Asian demand.

A host of state-run oil companies such as Oil India Ltd, the nation’s second-largest oil and gas explorer, Bharat Petroleum Corporation and Indian Oil Corporation, have also announced plans to make green hydrogen as well as develop equipment like electrolysers, which could make the country a large producer over the long term.

The decarbonisation ambitions of other Asian countries such as Japan and South Korea are likely to play into India’s hands, as the country emerges as a low-cost green hydrogen producer, analysts say.

Although Indian companies’ production plans are at an early stage, the country can become a large supplier as it is one of the cheapest producers of renewable electricity, which accounts for up to 80 per cent of green hydrogen’s production cost, says CSTEP’s Thirumalai.

India plans to raise its renewable energy capacity to 500 gigawatts by 2030, up from 110 gigawatts now, could drive down output costs further.

“India will have its own green hydrogen demand as well be a major exporter … This would make the green hydrogen ecosystem in India a 1-2 trillion dollar industry over the next 20-25 years,” according to ACME chief executive, Rajat Seksaria.

Globally, the green hydrogen industry could be worth $12-13 trillion by 2050, according to industry estimates.

Subhalakshmi Naskar, partner at law firm Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas, says that the government’s National Hydrogen Mission is a positive step to incentivise output and encourage investments, but a lot more will be needed.

“The implementation of policy…(including production linked incentives and tax holidays) will need to be put in place without any regulatory or other policy delays,” says Naskar.

Source Eco Business

‘UK’s biggest’ carbon capture facility opens at chemical manufacturing site in Cheshire

Posted on June 27, 2022June 26, 2022 by dishanth

The CCU plant has been added to the firm’s manufacturing plant in Northwich and has a stated capacity of up to 40,000 tonnes of CO2 capture each year. It will be used to capture emissions resulting from the processes of manufacturing salt, sodium carbonate and sodium bicarbonate. 40,000 tonnes is equivalent to 10% of the emissions generated by TCE in the UK every year.

For the past ten months, TCE has been testing the CCU plant at a limited capacity and has been measuring the purity of the captured CO2. It is hoped that the captured CO2 can be supplied to the food industry, which has faced shortages in recent months, and to manufacture lower-carbon sodium bicarbonate at the plant itself. Sodium bicarbonate is a key ingredient in products ranging from glass, to detergent, to pharmaceuticals. A key use in healthcare is haemodialysis.

edie reached out to TCE for more information on how the carbon capture process at the plant works. A spokesperson confirmed that the facility uses Advanced Amine Technology provided by US-based industrial solutions provider Pentair. This process involves taking exhaust gasses and using a flue gas scrubber to remove impurities. The gases are then transferred into an absorber column where they are mixed with an amine-based fluid that captures CO2. When heated in a stripper column, that liquid releases the CO2, leaving the amine solution free for reuse.

TCE has recorded a 50% reduction in the emissions intensity of its products since 2000 and is aiming to reach an 80% reduction by 2030. It sees CCU playing a significant role in delivering this 2030 goal, after improvements in energy and material efficiency and the use of combined heat and power (CHP) units helped to deliver the progress to date.

Government involvement

The UK Government provided £4.2m in grant funding to the TCE project, with the private sector – mainly TCE’s parent firm Tata Group – footing the remainder of the £20m costs. The Government funding was provided through the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy’s (BEIS) £505m Energy Innovation Programme, which launched in 2015 and closed to applications in 2021. Around £100m of the Programme’s budget was allocated to CCU and carbon capture and storage (CCS).

The Government’s overarching commitment on CCS is for four industrial clusters utilising CCS to be brought online using a mix of private and public finance – the first of which should come online this decade. Specifically, BEIS is targeting a total national CCS and CCU capacity of 20 million tonnes by 2030.

TCE’s plant is the largest in the UK at present, but will be the forebear to these larger projects. BEIS has selected the East Coast Cluster around Humber and Teesside and HyNet North West in Liverpool Bay as the first two large industrial cluster schemes which will receive public funding at scale, provided that they can prove their business case and evidence the environmental benefits of their innovative technologies.

BEIS Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng said TCE’s plant is “cutting-edge” and “demonstrates how carbon capture is attracting new private capital into the UK and is boosting new innovation in green technologies”. He added: “We are determined to make the UK a world-leader in carbon capture, which will help us reduce emissions and be a key part of the future of British industry.”

Representing the Government at the opening of the TCE plant was Mike Amesbury MP, the Labour representative for Weaver Vale. He said: “Manufacturing has been key to this area for over 150 years so it’s great to be part of such an historic moment. Even though, today, there are many competing agendas, sustainability is still crucial and we must continue working towards net-zero.

“The investment made by TCE in this leading-edge carbon capture plant will not only support the reduction of carbon dioxide emissions here, but it will also pave the way for others to use this technology.”

The opening of the plant comes shortly after the UK Government opened its first licencing round for projects that will enable the large-scale storage of captured carbon under the North Sea. While TCE will use and sell its captured emissions, some other firms intend to store them in this manner.

Source Edie

Eco-friendly strawberries all year round: The benefits of farming upwards

Posted on June 23, 2022 by dishanth

Strawberries available year-round that are fresher, cheaper, and even eco-friendlier – this is the promise of an indoor vertical farm.

Kiwi Arama Kukutai – the chief executive of Plenty – is about to open one of the world’s largest vertical farms. Using LED lights and robots, the US-based facility can grow a fulllettuce in 10 days: “That’s 15 to 20 times faster than the field,” he said.

Plenty farms will supply fresh produce to discount retailer Walmart. Next, Kukutai will take the technology to the US East Coast, and possibly one day, New Zealand and Australia.

Kukutai (Ngāti Maniapoto, Tainui, Te Aupōuri) challenges anyone who believes traditional farming receives free sunlight and water. Many crops require irrigation, which consumes energy.

Plenty’s farms use just 5% of the water compared to a traditional farm, he estimated. “We’re metering the water onto individual plants, metering the nutrients. We’ve got data at the plant level. We know how plants are performing.”

Sunlight also means exposure to the elements and pests. “It might be a hailstorm that kills all the strawberries. It might be bugs or pests that attack the crop,” Kukutai said.

Plenty’s vertical farms use robots to harvest their crops as well as plant seedlings for the next rotation. PLENTY/SUPPLIED

Plenty’s farms are mostly, but not exclusively, manned by robots. With the plants growing faster under intense UV light, the farm can harvest once a month. “We can change out the entire system to produce different greens on the fly. The retailer gets the products they want, when they want them.”

A 2018 report on vertical farming noted the process was only suitable for some crops – Plenty currently grows leafy greens, and is expanding into tomatoes and strawberries. In addition, the New Zealand-specific report concluded the high costs of establishing indoor systems outweighed the savings. But the climate crisis is now tipping the balance, Kukutai said.

Outdoor crops will increasingly weather droughts, storms, wild winds and flooding. Indoor farms will be better protected from these.

There’s a risk indoor farms could exacerbate our carbon output.

Already, Kiwi greenhouses burn coal and natural gas to keep crops warm in winter.

Kukutai acknowledged that the farm’s LED lights are energy-intensive. If their electricity is generated by burning fossil fuels, vertical farming could increase greenhouse emissions. He hoped to pair Plenty’s new facilities with renewable generation projects. “It’s aligned with our mission… Renewable capacity is a priority.”

One hectare of vertical farming can grow the food of between 200 and 300 hectares of traditional fields, he added. That means produce can be grown near cities, reducing food miles. “When you’re close to the customer, you’re not shipping product left, right and centre.”

Arama Kukutai is the chief executive of Plenty, a vertical farming company based in the United States. KAI SCHWOERER/STUFF

Plenty doesn’t use pesticides or herbicides. Indoor farming also significantly decreases food waste, he said. “As much as one-third of the food produced in the field gets lost.”

Decreased delivery times means produce stays fresher for longer, Kukutai added, with less purchased food ending up rotting and binned.

Due to these efficiencies, Kukutai believes vertical farming should be able to grow produce that’s cheaper than traditional farming systems. That milestone hasn’t been achieved yet, he added. “But that’s the point of investing in technology, to drive down cost.”

Farming up could also allow more land to be used for other purposes such as carbon absorption, the chief executive said. “Land’s a valuable resource. We’ll figure out other ways to utilise it.”

Kiwi business 26 Seasons operates vertical farms in Auckland, Foxton and Wellington, growing microgreens and strawberries.

Asked if Plenty might join them on New Zealand shores, Kukutai couldn’t say anything definitive. But he thought a small farm could be feasible. “I have a small bias, being a Kiwi.”

Source Stuff

Carlsberg to trial 8,000 bio-based beer bottles across Europe

Posted on June 22, 2022 by dishanth

Carlsberg has been researching and developing the feasibility of bio-based bottles since 2015 and has today (22 June) confirmed plans to trial 8,000 of its new “Fibre Bottles” across Europe.

The bio-based bottles are fully recyclable and will be placed into the hands of consumers for the first time.

The outer bottle consists of sustainably sourced wood fibre, produced by Paboco, which is working with a variety of companies to develop paper and bio-based bottles.

Each bottle consists of a plant-based polymer lining, developed by Carlsberg’s partner Avantium, that is made from natural raw materials that are compatible with plastic recycling systems. Carlsberg also claims that the bottles can “degrade” naturally, should they fail to be placed into recycling systems.

Carlsberg has analysed the prototype bottles through lifecycle assessment applications. Under its current projections, the company believes that the fibre bottle can achieve a carbon footprint that is 80% lower than current single-use glass bottles.

Carlsberg is aiming for the Fibre Bottle to achieve the same low carbon footprint as the refillable glass bottle, which is currently the best-performing primary packaging when collected and reused.

The bottles will be rolled out across Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Finland, United Kingdom, Poland, Germany and France.

Carlsberg’s group sustainability director Simon Boas Hoffmeyer said: “The progress made with our new Fibre Bottle is testament to Carlsberg’s pioneering spirit, with a focus on making better products in every sense of the word.

“We’ve been working hard on this project since 2015, and aim to continue to set the industry standard by further improving the bottle’s environmental footprint and product performance. Collaboration is key and, together with our partners, we’re excited to see how research and development into sustainable packaging solutions is now becoming the norm.”

Carlsberg has also revealed that the beer inside the bottle will be more sustainable. In collaboration with barley malt supplier Soufflet, Carlsberg has used barley that has been cultivated using organic and regenerative agricultural practices. Cover crops were introduced in the barley fields to assist with regenerative farming processes.

While progress has been made on the bottle, Carlsberg has confirmed that the bottle cap is not bio-based. This is because of the quality of the material needed for the cap. Carlsberg has moved to ensure that the cap and bottle are fully recyclable.

Going forward, Paboco and Carlsberg are exploring alternative fibre-based bottle caps, with a shareable solution expected in 2023. The Absolut Company, which is also working with Paboco, has confirmed plans to develop and trial a bio-based, fully recyclable bottle cap made from sustainable sources.

Carlsberg will now gain customer and consumer feedback on the bottles, which will be rolled out at select festivals and flagship events, as well as targeted product samplings. The feedback will be used to inform the next version of the design.

Paper bottle community

The progress of the bio-based bottle has been three years in the making. In 2019, Danish brewer Carlsberg unveiled prototypes of the world’s first beer bottles made from recyclable and bio-based materials.

The move kick-started the formation of Paboco, the Paper Bottle Company, which is a joint venture between renewables material company BillerudKorsnäs and plastic bottle manufacturing specialist Alpla.

On the day of its formation, Paboco launched a paper bottle community. The Absolut Company is one of the founding pioneers of this community and has been joined by The Coca-Cola Company, Carlsberg and L’Oréal.

Asbolut has since announced plans to trial of 2,000 paper-based bottle prototypes across Sweden and the UK, to test the viability of paper as an alternative to single-use plastics in beverage applications. The first prototypes were made up of 100% recycled content, with 57% paper and 43% recycled plastic, with the latter used to create a barrier layer for the bottle.

Elsewhere, The Coca-Cola Company – one of the biggest plastic producers in the food and beverage space – confirmed plans to trial 2,000 paper-based bottles in 2021, to test the material’s viability as an alternative to single-use plastics.

Source Edie

The circular economy: What B2B companies need to know

Posted on June 21, 2022June 20, 2022 by dishanth

The world’s population is growing steadily, and with it the demand for raw materials and resources. But all too often these are not infinite and are slowly becoming scarce. Our consumption ensures that we gradually exceed the capacities and limits of our planet.

The circular economy is intended to help save resources and pave the way out of the vicious circle of the throwaway society. The idea is quite simple: existing materials and products are shared, borrowed, reused, repaired, refurbished, and recycled for as long as possible to extend the life of the raw materials used before they finally reach the end of their useful life.

Thus, waste generated is kept to a minimum as all components are kept in circulation in the economy for as long as possible.

Sustainable investments have peaked at $30 trillion globally – a 68 percent increase since 2014. Quite a few financiers have committed to climate neutrality goals and expect the same from their business partners

The circular economy not only helps to operate more sustainably, but it also reduces the threat to the environment, increases security of supply and has a positive impact on our climate.

For many companies, the transformation towards more sustainability and climate neutrality also has financial reasons. It has been noted on several occasions that sustainable products grow significantly faster and enjoy greater popularity than non-sustainable products.

Unilever, for example, stated that its sustainable brands grew a full 46 percent faster than others, accounting for 70 percent of the company’s sales growth. In addition, McKinsey has found that a focus on environmental, social, and governmental goals can significantly reduce rising operating costs for raw materials or water, for example.

Investors are also increasingly looking for forward-looking and innovative companies. Sustainable investments have peaked at $30 trillion globally – a 68 percent increase since 2014. Quite a few financiers have committed to climate neutrality goals and expect the same from their business partners.

The pressure on companies to operate in a climate-neutral manner and to advance measures such as the circular economy is therefore coming from all sides.

The urgency for a circular economy is growing

From returnable bottles to car sharing, consumers have had a growing range of options for living more sustainably for some time now. Half of Germans are willing to buy refurbished devices, according to the latest Bitkom study.

As demand for more sustainable products continues to grow, online retailers are also following suit by increasingly contributing to and sourcing from the circular economy as well. According to a consumer study by Mirakl, more than half of online shoppers surveyed are more likely to choose vendors with sustainable practices.

In addition to consumer goods, many B2B industries are also embracing the circular economy

In addition to consumer goods, many B2B industries are also embracing the circular economy. In the automotive industry, for example, the use of remanufactured parts creates tremendous environmental and economic benefits for insurance companies, auto body builders and car manufacturers.

According to an analysis by the VDI, remanufacturing a compressor saves 89 percent CO2 equivalents compared to new production. Procurement costs are also 40 to 70 percent lower, which also benefits insurance companies because they have to pay lower sums in the event of damage.

The automotive sector can become a pioneer of the circular economy

Aniel, a leading French B2B retailer of car body parts, has recognised the signs of the times. The company recently expanded the offering of its online marketplace, which already lists more than 65 million listings for over 15 million products, to include remanufactured body parts.

By centralising its product offering, Aniel is making it easier for its customers to access remanufactured products for which they would otherwise have had to search laboriously and time-consumingly for specialised third-party suppliers.

This significant expansion of the product offering in the marketplace has enabled Aniel to strengthen its positioning as a “one-stop store” for bodybuilders and automotive manufacturers.

The potential benefits of the marketplace model are enormous and can help a company become more agile, larger and more profitable. According to Mirakl’s new Enterprise Marketplace Index 2022, revenue growth in enterprise marketplaces is more than double that of e-commerce overall – for the second year in a row.

Online marketplaces like Zureli have the advantage of providing a large and centralised catalogue of offerings right in one place, helping to establish a resource-efficient approach to supporting the circular economy

When developing a marketplace strategy, B2B companies should focus on specialisation because they know their own ecosystem best, and customers rely on enterprise expertise.

Online marketplaces have the advantage of providing a large and centralised catalogue of offerings right in one place, helping to establish a resource-efficient approach to supporting the circular economy.

On average, an auto body shop serves more than 30 vehicle brands and thus receives supplies from dozens of different suppliers, including specialised dealers, from multiple locations. By centralising purchases and accessing a wide range of products, Aniel’s marketplace model saves shops a lot of time.

Continuous innovative thinking allows Aniel to strengthen the circularity of the automotive sector, secure the supply of spare parts and meet the challenge of internationalisation.

What’s next in terms of sustainability

Environmental awareness within companies is growing, and the sustainability of products is playing an increasingly important role. This includes optimised supply chains, sustainable materials, and fair working conditions. 86 percent of consumers even think that increased sustainable action can give B2B companies a decisive competitive advantage.

But there is still a lot of catching up to do when it comes to sustainability, both for consumers and for companies. While interest in sustainable products is growing, understanding of how the circular economy works still needs to improve. Only then can benefits be truly understood and changes implemented.

Through transparency, companies can demonstrate that the sustainability mindset is present and being advanced. The marketplace model provides a good foundation for the circular economy through its interconnectivity and numerous sales and comparison options, but companies must be willing to rethink their current concepts and processes. Only then can the circular economy become a reality.

Source Circular

Leuven: This forward-thinking city has banned cars from its centre

Posted on June 21, 2022June 20, 2022 by dishanth

Home to 171 nationalities, the historic city of Leuven in Belgium has become one of Europe’s most climate-conscious destinations.

Winner of the European Capital of Innovation Award in 2020, the mayor’s office has been investing the €1 million prize money wisely, as it strives to make Leuven carbon neutral by 2050.

“We believe that Leuven is ready to take up an important role and become one of the most green and caring cities of Europe,” says the city’s Mayor Mohamed Ridouani.

We believe that Leuven is ready to take up an important role and become one of the most green and caring cities of Europe. – Mayor of Leuven

So how does this small Belgian city – most famous as the birthplace of Stella Artois – plan to do this?

Leuven 2030: A roadmap to carbon neutrality

Launched in 2013, Leuven2030 is an ambitious roadmap to help the town meet its climate goals.

The movement, which was formed with just 60 founding members, including the historic university – KU Leuven – and the City of Leuven, now has 600 members signed up to its climate pledges.

These include local businesses, civic bodies, citizen scientists and charities, all committed to making the city greener and cleaner for future generations.

“When we were founded, there was a debate about whether we should be Leuven 2030 or Leuven 2050, but we have a very important intermediate milestone, so it matters whether you go slowly towards climate neutrality or fast,” explains Katrien Rycken, Director of Leuven2030.

We want to be in the fast lane and I think we are getting there more and more. We hope to become carbon neutral way before 2050. We’re not a follower city, we’re a frontrunner city. – Katrien Rycken, Director of Leuven2030

“We want to be in the fast lane and I think we are getting there more and more. We hope to become carbon neutral way before 2050. We’re not a follower city, we’re a frontrunner city.”

In order to hit their targets, there’s a 12 step plan in place, with schemes ranging from retrofitting 1,000 homes a year, to investing in solar power and depaving vast swathes of concrete.

Global events are accelerating the retrofitting scheme too, says Ridouani. “People, I think, are more sensitive to this [retrofitting] because of the energy crisis. There’s an openness to see what people can do because they think ‘okay if the city and the government can help me to make this investment, that means that my energy bill will go down.’”

To ensure no one is left behind in the push for more efficient homes, poverty organisations and social housing companies also sit on the board of Leuven2030, guaranteeing everyone has equal access to resources.

How the pandemic has pushed Leuven’s green policies forward

Elected in 2019, Ridouani’s premiership could have been overshadowed by the COVID-19 pandemic.

But far from being a stumbling block, in many ways the global crisis has further accelerated Leuven’s green ambitions.

Covid pushed us to implement a couple of our policies faster, actually. We had in mind to make the entire city centre a bicycle zone, meaning that if you ride a bicycle, a car should always stay behind you. – Mohamed Ridouani, Mayor of Leuven

“It pushed us to implement a couple of our policies faster, actually. We had in mind to make the entire city centre a bicycle zone, meaning that if you ride a bicycle, a car should always stay behind you,” he says.

“We thought, this should be prepared very well, step-by-step, we will need to have a lot of debate, but in fact, because of covid we implemented it overnight.”

And luckily for Ridouani and his team, there was no backlash. “People just accepted it, because there was already that use of public space. So this is one of those examples where a crisis can be a moment where you rethink things and actually push through policies much faster.”

Leuven’s green aspirations have kept the awards flowing it too. The city has been named one of Europe’s best destinations for 2022 by the European Best Destinations (EBD) and EDEN Network.

The EBD dubbed Leuven a ‘Belgian miracle’ and went on to name it the most ‘open-minded destination in Europe’ – ahead of the usual frontrunners Amsterdam and London. While this is partly thanks to the 51,000 students that call Leuven home during their university years, the city also has a history of nurturing original thinkers.

Thomas More’s Utopia had its first print run here back in 1516, while his Humanist peer Erasmus was a professor at the university. Founded in 1425, the institution has been an innovative catalyst in the city ever since.

Leuven is a cycling paradise

Perhaps Leuven’s most successful – and noticeable – green policy though is its car reduction scheme.

As a result, Leuven is a cycler’s paradise. In fact, the metropole is the only city in Belgium where cycling is actually the preferred mode of transit, with public transport coming in second and cars in third.

In order to achieve such a striking statistic, the city implemented a radical mobility plan, as Ridouani explains.

“There was a time when you could cross everywhere with your car and park almost everywhere. So the city hall, the church, the great market. The church was a roundabout and you could park just in front of the city hall and the walls were all black because of the emissions,” he says.

“So over the years we’ve pushed that back and five years ago there was a new mobility plan, a circulation plan which was implemented where in fact we divided the city into pieces like a cake and you cannot go from one piece to another.”

In the four years following its implementation, cycling increased by an astounding 40 per cent. The mayor’s office is now aiming to reduce use by a further 20 per cent and introduce a 30 km speed limit on smaller roads too.

As a result of the mobility plan, the town centre lacks the constant hum of traffic that plagues most cities in Europe, replaced by the tinkle of bicycle bells and the gentle chatter of its diverse student population.

We captured beautiful and very striking stories of children, who, thanks to the circulation plan, were allowed by their parents to go on their own by bike to school. – Katrien Rycken, Director of Leuven2030

“We captured beautiful and very striking stories of children, for example, who thanks to the circulation plan, were allowed by their parents to go on their own by bike to school,” says Rycken.

If you don’t fancy travelling on two wheels, thanks to the lack of cars, walking is also easy here, with most amenities no more than a 15-20 minute stroll away.

The wider region also boasts four cycling loops, taking you out of the centre and into the Flemish Brabant. If you must drive though, there are still ways to do it while maintaining your eco-credentials, as Leuven is the number one car sharing city in Belgium too.

How else is the city going green?

In order to reach its climate targets, Leuven is also investing in solar power and the reuse of raw materials – including concrete.

Leuven2030 is not just blindly imposing policies though, as Rycken explains, all of their work is the result of multi-layered analysis.

“Together with the university we are measuring the heat island effect of the warmer summers due to climate disruption,” she explains.

“We’re joining the layer of the heat island measurements with the layer of where there are green areas in the city already, and then a final layer of where vulnerable inhabitants are,” she says.

“Where are our elderly homes, where are our creches, where are those inhabitants that are more vulnerable to heat.”

This layering method ensures that their policies are precisely targeted, and helps the project reach those most in need of help.

Beyond infrastructure and climate science, the people of Leuven are investing in their green futures too. At Park Abbey, a 13th century heritage site on the edge of the city, a new urban farm is giving locals the chance to invest.

“There you have one example of community supported agriculture,” says Rycken.

“You can buy a share as a citizen and then you go there and get your own vegetables and sustainable meat and milk. It’s a very beautiful example, we have several of them around Leuven.”

Encouraging sustainable, healthy eating and expanding participation in local agriculture is one of the 12 pillars of Leuven2030 and just another example of how this unique city is shaping itself.

“There’s a lot of culture, a lot of heritage and I also believe a lot of future,” says Ridouani, “it’s a really forward-leaning city.”

Source Euro News

BrewDog unveils £12m anaerobic digestor to create green gas for its Ellon brewery

Posted on June 20, 2022 by dishanth

BrewDog has invested £12m into its bio-energy plant, which features an onsite anaerobic digester that will process the majority of the 200 million litres of wastewater that is produced at the company’s Ellon brewery each year.

The digester will treat both wastewater and spent yeast and hops from the brewing process to create biomethane. The gas will be used to power the brewery’s boilers and looks set to reduce emissions at the site by more than 7,500 tonnes annually once the plant is running at full capacity. The gas will be used to power the production of more than 176 million pints of beer each year.

BrewDog aims to use the CO2 created by the digester to carbonate its beer over the coming years. Later this year, BrewDog will use the surplus green gas generated onsite to fuel delivery vehicles, with the remainder sent back to the grid.

BrewDog’s director of sustainability Sarah Warman said: “We’re not just here to make great beer – we’re making great beer that doesn’t cost the Earth. Our ambition is nothing short of making BrewDog beer the most planet-friendly beer on Earth, and we’ve taken giant strides towards that goal with our new bio-energy plant.

“Our number one sustainability goal is to reduce emissions, and we want to lead the way for the entire brewing industry. We want all our teams to feel like the work they do supports our mission to protect the planet.”

The Ellon brewery, which opened in 2013, has reduced the volume of water it takes to make beer by more than 50%. Once fully operational, the digester will create around 200 cubic metres of biomethane per hour – equivalent to around 23,000 MWh of energy per year. This is enough to heat for more than 1500 hours.

It forms part of a wider £50m that the company has made to slash carbon emissions per hectolitre of beer by 35% versus its baseline in 2019.

Carbon negative beer

BrewDog’s sustainability initiatives also include one of the largest tree planting and peatland restoration projects the UK has ever seen. The 9,308-acre Lost Forest near Aviemore will see more than a 1.1million trees planted, alongside peatland restoration, and will be capable of removing significant carbon from the atmosphere over the next 100 years.

The investment builds toward BrewDog’s existing sustainability targets, which includes reducing emissions while “double offsetting” the remaining emissions that it generates across Scope 1 (direct), Scope 2 (power-related) and upstream Scope 3 (indirect) sources.

The brewer made a commitment to remove twice as much carbon from the air each year as it emits, with the first year being August 2020 through August 2021.

Since it began “double removing” carbon emissions in August 2020, the company has had to remove almost 2,900 tonnes of CO2e for each of the 19 weeks remaining in 2020 – equating to almost 55,000 tonnes. The company actually went and removed almost 60,000 tonnes “just to be on the safe side”.

The company has also announced that its “Lost Forest” initiative has been given the approval to start planting trees.

The Lost Forest encapsulates more than 9,300 acres of Scottish highlands at the Kinrana estate and looks set to form one of the UK’s largest native woodland and peatland restoration projects and the largest corporate-backed initiative of its kind.

Over the next five years, BrewDog aims to plant 1.1 million trees to create a rich and vibrant bio-diverse woodland ecosystem.

Source Edie

Blockchain-verified sustainable aviation fuel scheme launched by Shell, Amex and Accenture

Posted on June 20, 2022 by dishanth

Called Avelia, the scheme is offering around one million gallons of SAF in the first instance, which its co-founders claim makes it the largest of its kind to date. This amount of fuel could cover 15,000 individual business traveller flights from London to New York, the co-founders state.

There are many business flight schemes through which customers can either offset the emissions related to their tickets or purchase SAF, but this is believed to be the first of its scale to utilise blockchain.

Business customers will be able to book flights using the American Express Global Business Travel (Amex GBT) platform and request verification that SAF, equivalent to that which would have been used if their flights had directly been powered with the maximum blend of 50%, has been produced and supplied. Verification will be provided in the form of blockchain-generated tokens, which have a tamper-proof audit trail.

Shell will produce the SAF while Accenture is contributing its IT services and partnering with the Energy Web Foundation to use its existing blockchain platform, powered by Microsoft’s Azure.

Shell currently manufactures SAF using agricultural wastes in Rotterdam, and at a separate facility fed by agricultural wastes and virgin plant feedstocks in Singapore. It is aiming to produce at least two million tonnes of SAFs annually from 2025 and to continue expanding production through to the 2030s, eyeing new production and blending facility locations in markets including the UK to meet these aims.

Shell claims that its SAF can reduce lifecycle emissions by up to 80% when compared with traditional jet fuel, if it is used neat. Current international regulations limit the maximum proportion of SAF in blends to 50%, however. Barriers to using neat SAF include the need for the development of suitable engines and the need to scale up SAF production while avoiding unintended negative consequences, such as poor land-use practices for feedstock crops. SAF currently costs between two and eight times as much as conventional jet fuel, depending on national markets and feedstocks, as it is yet to benefit from the same ‘economies of scale’ benefits as kerosene.

“SAF is a key enabler of decarbonisation in the aviation industry, and it is available today- however, it is currently scarce and costs more than conventional jet fuel,” said Shell Aviation’s president Jan Toschka. “Avelia will help trigger demand for SAF at scale, providing confidence to suppliers like us to further increase investment in production, and in turn helping to lower the price point for these fuels.”

Shell, Accenture, and Amex GBT will notably use the Avelia platform for all of their own business flights.

SAF – the state of play

SAF has proven to be a popular approach to decarbonisation for the aviation industry, which is responsible for 3% of annual global emissions and which – pandemic aside – had been growing rapidly in terms of passenger numbers and emissions for a decade.

It is doubtless so popular because using blends of 50% is a ‘drop-in’ solution, requiring no changes to aircraft – as would be necessary for electrification or the use of hydrogen. The UK’s industry body for sustainability in aviation is planning to prioritise SAF use, efficiencies and offsetting to reach net-zero, and this approach has influenced national policymaking on the issue.

This approach is against the recommendation of the UK’s Climate Change Committee (CCC). The CCC’s most optimistic forecast for the use of SAF in the UK’s aviation industry is for it to cover 7% of fuel supply in 2030. With this in mind, and with electric and hydrogen technologies for large planes still years from maturity, the CCC has recommended that the Government caps airport expansion and limits the growth in passenger numbers. The Conservative Party has, to date, been staunchly against this approach – as have most large businesses in the sector.

Instead, the Government is planning to deliver a rapid scaling of SAF production. Ministers have asked the industry to collaborate to bring at least three commercial SAF production plants online in the UK by 2025. The Government has partnered with LanzaTech, Velocys and Philipps 66 to help deliver this ambition, through its Jet Zero Council.

To ensure adequate demand for these SAFs, the Government is mulling a SAF mandate. Its proposals involve requirements for jet fuel producers to ensure that at least 10% of their production annually is SAF by 2030, rising to 75% by 2050. The EU is considering a similar mandate.

Source Edie