News / Europe's green aviation fuel targets 'unrealisable', says IATA chief

© Maksim Safaniuk |

IATA director general Willy Walsh has slammed Europe’s clean energy targets for the aviation sector as “unrealisable”.

Addressing a plenary session at last week’s World Cargo Symposium in Dubai, Mr Walsh suggested major changes were needed if the industry was to address its emissions, and that these changes must include amending the timespan for shifting to greener aircraft fuel.

“Sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) is incredibly expensive,” said Mr Walsh, who has supported the idea of fuel companies bearing the cost of transitioning.

Pointing to the targets set by EU and UK regulators, he added that for aviation, the prohibitive cost of SAF left those targets “unrealisable” but did present opportunity “for those who want to penalise the industry to do so”.

Both the EU and UK have been pushing SAF uptake, using graded targets, beginning with a requirement for 2% of jet fuel demand to be provided by SAF by the end of this year.

However, the steps diverge, with the UK seeking 10% of supply by 2030 and 22% by 2040, and the EU 6% for 2030 and 70% by 2050.

Other delegates agreed that “airlines could not be expected to do it alone” and called for an industry-wide effort.

One aviation executive said that, while the “commitment to environmental stewardship is not a choice”, airports needed to be investing in the infrastructure to supply the fuel, and energy companies needed to provide the options.

Another noted that it would be energy companies reaping the profits, “so they should provide the upfront cost” rather than passing on to airlines.

 Martin Drew, chief strategy and transformation officer at Atlas Air, told The Loadstar on the sidelines of the symposium sustainability was one of the carrier’s “four pillars”.

He added: “We are doing a lot more on this front and have been working with customers to jointly procure sustainable aviation fuels.”

And a member of DHL’s aviation team believed “achievability” of the fuel mandates rested primarily with fuel suppliers, rather than carriersadding: “We’ll all be sold fuel with a 2% SAF component when the producers meet the mandate.

“However, we are already trending above 2% globally in our usage and are among the leading airlines globally in terms of the quantity of SAF purchased and SAF as a percentage of our fuel usage.”