We have spent a lot of time in our ESG and Climate work talking about the huge impending challenge of producing enough sustainable aviation fuel to meet airlines desired needs for 2030 and beyond and we highlighted a Ryanair release yesterday that suggested that the company would struggle to meet its 12.5% goal by 2030. The Honeywell schematic in the exhibit below is one of many different processes that are being considered to meet both the demand for sustainable aviation fuel and renewable diesel and gasoline demand. With gasoline more likely to be replaced with increased numbers of EVs over time, we believe that the sustainable fuel focus will switch to aviation as the main priority, and we will need every technology that we can get to meet the volume needs. Waste oil and vegetable oil, with carbon capture around the refining process, is one route, fermentation-based processes are another, and waste to oil is a third, although we remain skeptical about the reliability and economics around a waste gasification-based approach.
In our ESG and Climate report yesterday we focused on sustainable aviation fuel, discussing a recent report from Shell and Deloitte, which shows some of the challenges with getting the aerospace industry to net zero. The report focused on the need for sustainable aviation fuel now, and in large volumes, as this is the only thread that the industry can pull on today – synthetic fuels (from CO2 and hydrogen will be uneconomic for decades, and neither electric powered or hydrogen-powered aircraft are going to be a solution before 2050). The bp, Delta, and Boeing linked headline is one of many that we expect to see as the need for near-term progress is urgent, given the scale of investment required. See yesterday’s report for more detail.