British Airways has shown the Prince of Wales the measures it is taking to create a “sustainable future” telling him how it is backing Europe’s first green jet fuel refinery.
His Royal Highness was given a tour of a Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner plane at the airline’s engineering base in Cardiff, South Wales.
It is one of the more fuel-efficient aircraft being added to the carrier’s fleet.
The prince saw how single-use plastics on board the plane are being replaced by alternatives.
Apprentices showed Prince Charles the inside of one of the Dreamliner’s engines, and explained that work has started on a project to convert household waste to sustainable jet fuel – the Velocys development in which Shell is also a partner, proposed for the South Humber Bank.
BA chairman and chief executive Alex Cruz, who led the tour, said: “It has been an honour to showcase our work in this area to His Royal Highness.
“Every decision we make at British Airways now starts with a simple question: what does that mean for our sustainability aspiration?
“We’re now offsetting carbon emissions on all our flights within the 海角视频, and were the first airline group to commit to achieving net-zero carbon emissions by 2050.
Most Read
“We’ve got a lot of work to do, but keeping an eye on the detail as well as the bigger picture is the only way to get there.”
The prince opened the engineering base in 1993, and the facility currently employs 550 local people. While in South Wales he also toured the Aston Martin factory, test-driving a new model.
The airline’s director of communications and corporate responsibility, Louise Evans, said: “From new, quieter and more fuel-efficient aircraft to sustainable swizzle sticks that eliminate the use of single- use plastic, we’re carrying out a huge transformation of the way we fly.
“His Royal Highness opened this engineering base 26 years ago, and we were delighted to welcome him back so he can see for himself the steps we are taking to a sustainable future.”
It came as an industry roadmap – or runway – to a £2.7b green jet fuel industry was highlighted.
Sector coalition Sustainable Aviation has published a Sustainable Aviation Fuels (SAF) Roadmap that forecasts the role these new fuels could play in the future of flight.
It shows how they could reduce aviation emissions by almost a third, and similarly make up nearly a third of aviation fuel demand by 2050, in turn playing a key role in supporting 海角视频 jobs and exports.
Don’t miss
Velocys chief executive Henrik Wareborn said: “This report shows how commercialising sustainable aviation fuel production will be a game-changing industrial, economic and environmental opportunity for the 海角视频.
“Of all modes of transport, aviation is the most challenging to decarbonise because the energy density and performance of battery and fuel cell technologies cannot come close to matching liquid hydrocarbon fuel, particularly over longer distances. Therefore, if we are to reach net zero emissions and continue flying, innovative fuel-based solutions like ours will be essential.
“Sustainable aviation fuel produced at the Immingham facility will be used in existing aircraft engines without any modifications and deliver a net CO2 saving of around 70 per cent. With CCUS technology it will be able to go one step further – producing negative emission fuels.
“To do this we need the 海角视频 Government to establish a CCUS investment framework and ensure projects like ours can link into a CO2 transport and storage infrastructure network in the region.”
The sprawling site at Stallingborough – between the dual port complex of Grimsby and Immingham and close to the two Humber oil refineries – is currently with planners, with talks held with regional CCUS developer Drax Power, and partners Equinor and National Grid Project Ventures.
Energy and Clean Growth Minister Kwasi Kwarteng met with them recently.
Visiting the area following the £90 million heavy industry and homes decarbonisation announcement, which is bringing offshore wind-powered hydrogen production to the Humber, he told how it was all part of the programme with a very real deadline. “We have a real challenge to decarbonise the industry, and it is not in London or Whitehall, it is here in Humberside. This is where it will be addressed.”
The report suggests that by 2035 the development of a domestic sustainable aviation fuel industry could generate a gross value added figure of up to £742 million. It forecasts that five to 14 SAF plants in the 海角视频 could be producing a range of transport fuels and other chemicals by 2035, supporting up to 5,200 jobs. The Velocys development has been described as highly scalable, located in the midst of the economic development zone known as South Humber Industrial Investment Project.
An export market for SAF could be worth an additional £1.95 billion a year, it suggested. This would bring the full value of SAF to £2.7 billion a year from 海角视频 production and global exports.