Jet Zero Strategy: UK government plans to decarbonise aviation sector

Aviation accounts for 3% of UK carbon emissions, and within that 3%, almost 90% are released by international flights. Emissions peaked in 2019, with the pandemic putting a halt to most flights after that point. While this is good overall, fewer people flying means that efficiency has gone down, and post pandemic fossil fuel use per passenger per km has gone up by 72%.

In light of this, the government has announced that it will aim to improve aviation fuel efficiency incrementally every year, in order to achieve net zero by 2050. They will do this using a series of technological changes. Primarily this will be an increase in SAF, or sustainable aviation fuel, which is a low carbon biofuel which can be made from feedstock, or for an even lower environmental impact, household waste, cooking oil, and algae. By next year the government has pledged to have the world’s first completely net-zero transatlantic flight, powered only by SAF.

As well as working to make fuel carbon-neutral, they will also use the UK Emissions Trading Scheme to offset residual emissions using carbon capture. The ETS is an important backup to help offset the emissions of all sectors while we work on decarbonising across the country. 

This strategy acts as a case study to show how important carbon capture and offset is in the path to net zero. Practically no sectors are able to decarbonise instantly, and in the years it takes to reach net zero, carbon capture makes up for residual emissions so that the path to minimising climate change can be sped up.