Ministers and aviation chiefs have revealed an action plan for the next 2 years in the race to reach Jet Zero by 2050, as the government continues with ambitious plans to decarbonise faster than any other G7 country, grow the economy, and support hundreds of thousands of well-paid green jobs.

The Jet Zero Council – made up of industry, academic and government leaders – met on 17th April 2023 at Farnborough Airport. Through its 2-year plan, the council committed to continue working to speed up the design, manufacture, and rollout of zero emission aircraft and vital infrastructure at UK airports.

Farnborough Airport also played host to the Sustainable Skies World Summit on 17th April 2023, which gathers experts and leaders from the worlds of aviation, government, energy, and engineering.

The government has also welcomed the report Developing a UK SAF industry by Philip New, former CEO of the Energy Systems Catapult and BP Alternative Energy. The Philip New report sets out a number of recommendations to help stimulate SAF production in the UK.

The UK’s Sustainable Aviation Fuels programme is one of the most comprehensive in the world. The Jet Zero Strategy sets out how we can achieve net zero emissions from UK aviation by 2050, importantly without directly limiting demand for aviation, and the £165 million Advanced Fuel Fund is also kickstarting production, with 5 projects already chosen to receive funding.

Led by Aerospace Technology Institute (ATI) this 12-month study will work closely with industry to define the operating model for a group of open access research and development facilities designed to accelerate the development of liquid hydrogen propulsion aircraft technologies, capabilities and skills in the UK. It will also explore options for the supply of green liquid hydrogen.

The study was inspired by the BEIS funded Fly Zero project, which published its conclusion in March 2022. This study brought together experts from across the UK to explore the design, technical and commercial challenges in realising zero-carbon emission commercial aviation by 2030. It concluded that green liquid hydrogen offers the greatest potential to power a new generation of zero-carbon emission aircraft and recommended further work to explore collaborative R&D facilities.

Find out more here.