The head of the largest coalition of airlines internationally has taken to encourage oil producers to be more environmentally responsible.

On this note, oil producers have been urged to focus on increasing the production of low-emission fuel for aviation purposes.

Consequently, the sustainability of commercial air travel has been emphasized to ensure that the decarbonization efforts of the industry are effective and successful.

The call

An aviation summit was recently held in Singapore, which was attended by representatives of various member states from the European Union.

During the conference, Willie Walsh, the Director General of the International Air Transport Association, highlighted the importance of sustainability in the industry.

He added that sustainable aviation fuel is currently the most powerful tool that the sector can avail to curb harmful emissions.

In his words, sustainable fuel has a superior environmental performance and is going to help countries play their role in protecting the environment, seeing the rising demand for travel and tourism, especially in Europe.

According to the Director, the demand for cleaner-burning alternative fuel is more than its current supply.

This is despite the higher cost of low-emission fuel, which ranges from three to five times more than that of conventional jet fuel.

Willie Walsh went on to add that every bit of fuel produced by the oil producers is going to be used up right away in light of this being an existential issue.

He added that the sector would only be allowed and able to ensure growth and expansion of customers, governments, and regulators can see that aviation can develop in a sustainable manner.

Challenges

A European publication commented on this note, saying that after suffering the problems that came with the pandemic, airlines are currently struggling with another obstacle. This is that of net zero carbon emissions by the time 2050 rolls around.

It is a known fact that the aviation sector contributes a relatively small share of the overall emissions around the globe.

However, it still stands to face a couple of major obstacles in its journey to fully embrace decarbonization.

At the same time, failure to keep up with all the other industries could cause the aviation sector to significantly increase its share of emissions as the decades change.

As of now, it is believed that the industry will require a capital investment of around $5 trillion to facilitate the transition.

A significant portion of this budget would also have to be earmarked for the development and design of sustainable fuel refineries.

Suggestions

Willie Walsh has taken to caution that hydrogen should not be used as a potential alternative in the short term.

He stressed that it is necessary to give rise to the production of sustainable aviation fuel instead.

The sustainable fuel will thus be derived from agricultural raw materials and waste oils and come with the promise of reducing carbon emissions by around 80%.

However, the higher cost of doing so has caused a debate regarding the distribution of overall costs.