Most airlines are not making enough effort to switch to so-called sustainable fuels (SAF), according to a study published Tuesday by the non-governmental organization (NGO) Transport and Environment (T&E), which also points the finger of blame oil producers.
The airline industry is calling for increased production of the fuel, which can be made from materials such as wood chips and used cooking oil.
“Unfortunately, airlines are currently unable to significantly reduce their emissions because they are not purchasing enough sustainable aviation fuel,” said Francesco Catte, head of aviation policy at T&E. .
SAF represents around 1% of fuel used in the global market, which must increase for airlines to meet their carbon emissions reduction targets. However, this type of fuel can cost two to five times more than regular kerosene.
The NGO believes that the lack of investment from major players in the oil sector, who have the capital to build SAF processing facilities, is hampering market growth.
In its ranking, Transport and Environment, however, distinguishes Air France-KLM AIRF.PA, United Airlines UAL.O and Norwegian NAS.OL among the airlines which have taken tangible measures to purchase biofuel, in particular its synthetic version considered more own.
But 87% of them are not making significant efforts, according to the NGO, and even those who do may not achieve their own goals without more investment.
“Very few airlines are committed to using truly sustainable fuels – Air France is one of the few (…) The majority of them are buying the wrong types of fuels or, even worse, not buying of SAF at all”, commented in the study Jérôme du Boucher, aviation manager at T&E France.
In its ranking, T&E places the Italian airlines ITA Airways, born from the bankruptcy of Alitalia, and the Portuguese TAP among the poor performers in terms of adoption of SAF.
A TAP spokesperson, however, said the company was the first to fly to Portugal with SAF in July 2022, and had committed to consuming up to 10% in 2030.
“We would have liked to increase our investment in SAF, but low availability (…) and high costs (…) have limited our ability to do so, also given our initial situation,” said a ITA representative.
(Reporting by Joanna Plucinska, with contributions by Sergio Goncalves; French version Noémie Naudin, edited by Kate Entringer)
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