The impressive sounding “inaugural meeting of the International Aviation Climate Ambition Coalition”, held at this year’s COP26, attracted some of the world’s wealthiest and most influential countries, including the UK, US and France. The never-before-seen meeting between 23 nations took place at the climate conference in Glasgow earlier this month – but what was actually achieved when it came to air travel?
A declaration was made by the signatories, one that included a number of pledges to “acknowledge”, “recognise” and “recall” that aviation emissions had quite a big impact on global warming.
In fact, the language seemed to largely suggest a lot more “recognising” of the problematic nature of growing CO2 output from air travel than, say, actually doing anything to reduce it. But among the very tepid promises were a few more practical suggestions. The Coalition agreed to “promote the development and deployment, through international and national measures, of sustainable aviation fuels that reduce lifecycle emissions and contribute to the achievement of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), in particular avoiding competition with food production for land use and water supply.”
This may not be your first time hearing the phrase “sustainable aviation fuels”, or SAFs – because 2021 was the year that the aviation industry and governments alike seemed to collectively decide that these would be the saving grace of a practice that is increasingly under the microscope for its damaging climate impact.
In September this year, British Airways operated its first flight using sustainable aviation fuel (SAF). The airline said the flight from London Heathrow to Glasgow demonstrated how “aviation is decarbonising”.
Earlier in 2021, its parent company,…