Action plan to hit ‘Jet Zero’ by 2050 published.

Ministers and aviation chiefs have put forward a plan for the next two years to reach Jet Zero, a carbon-neutral aviation sector, by 2050.

The Jet Zero Council, made up of industry, academics and government leaders, met at Farnborough Airport on Monday to discuss speeding up the design, manufacture and rollout of zero-emission aircraft and airport infrastructure.

The meeting was held to coincide with the Sustainable Skies Summit in Farnborough on Monday and Tuesday. This is a global event bringing together aviation leaders from around the world in the UK to boost cooperation to achieve this ambitious target.

The council aims to have ten per cent sustainable fuels in the UK fuel mix by 2030 and zero-emission transatlantic flights within a generation.

To achieve this the Government has committed £165m to the Advanced Fuel Fund which has already paid out to successful bidders. This includes £11m for Teesside’s alfanar Lighthouse Green Fuels project which will turn black bin bag waste into sustainable aviation fuel (SAF). It aims to be operational by 2028.

Commenting on this Andrew Jones MP said: “We are seeing more and more zero-emission cars and buses on the road and more electrification of the railway. We know that aviation is a carbon-heavy industry so the more we can do now to tackle this the quicker we will hit Jet and Net Zero.

“There is also an economic and jobs benefit to getting ahead early in the SAF sector just as there is with offshore oil companies pivoting into the offshore wind sector for example. There are exciting times ahead here with opportunities to reduce waste, create skilled jobs and cut carbon on a big scale.”