Transport secretary Grant Shapps unveiled the strategy on Tuesday (19 July) at the Farnborough Airshow, vowing to ensure pre-Covid levels of emissions define the moment aviation pollution peaked.
"From now on, it should all be downhill for carbon emissions – and steadily uphill for green flights,” said Shapps.
The strategy commits UK domestic aviation to achieving net zero emissions by 2040, and for all airports in England to be zero-emission by the same year.
It also enshrines a requirement for sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) to constitute “at least 10% of jet fuel” by 2030, although it is not clear if this will be a legal obligation.
The government wants “at least five” commercial scale SAF plants under construction in the UK by 2025; new SAF projects able to apply to a £165 million Advanced Fuels Fund to help them get off the ground.
Balpa, though, said despite the ambitious targets, the strategy "misses significant deliverable steps in the challenging road to making aviation truly sustainable".
The union said with CO2 accounting for "only around one third" of the global warming effect of aviation, it was disappointing the government had "failed to grasp" the need for action on contrails "and other non-CO2 effects of aviation".
"The strategy relies too heavily on unproven and uncosted technologies for removing greenhouse gasses from the atmosphere, a major risk to success," said Balpa. "In 2050, according to the strategy, aviation is still expected to emit half the CO2 it does now, making the case for securing very real gains on non-CO2 effects immediately."
’Red warning’
Balpa general secretary Martin Chalk also criticised the government for relying on "the same narrow clique" for its advice, namely, "the same CEOs who provided the chaos in aviation’s spring ’recovery’ from Covid".
Bosses from easyJet, British Airways and Heathrow all sit on the advisory Jet Zero Council. Jet2 was appointed to the council on Tuesday (19 July).
"Aspiration heavy and action light ‘strategies’ risk failing our industry, the economy and our society," said Chalk. "Major risks remain to Jet Zero’s chances of success, and until organisations like Balpa are involved – providing practical and outcome orientated solutions – our red warning will remain valid.”
Balpa did, however, welcome the government’s pledge of a further £180 million to encourage a UK sustainable fuel industry.
