Aviation firms will soon be obliged to replace more than a fifth of their jet fuel with sustainable aviation fuels (SAF) as the government launches a revamped ‘Jet Zero Taskforce’ looking at how the sector can cut its carbon emissions.
Building on the previous Jet Zero Council, which was set up under the Conservatives in 2020, transport secretary Louise Haigh has introduced the taskforce. It will see the government regularly meeting with senior figures in the sector such as the CEOs of major airlines and airports, as well as fuel producers, trade bodies and universities.
Aviation, which accounts for approximately 3% of total CO2 emissions worldwide, is considered a hard-to-abate sector because of a lack of technologically mature alternatives to traditional jet-fuelled engines such as electric or hydrogen-fuelled aircraft.
In the Jet Zero Strategy, published in 2022, the government proposed various technological measures, such as increasing fuel efficiency and adoption of SAF. The model...