- [Presenter] Could commercial planes
soon be powered by clean energy?
The aviation industry,
which accounts for around 5% of all greenhouse gases
has been experimenting with technologies like battery,
solar and even hydrogen.
So far none of these projects have gone beyond testing,
and are far from being commercially viable.
But in the midst of an industry-wide crisis
caused by coronavirus pandemic,
the world's largest planemaker, Airbus,
announced plans to put zero emission aircraft
into commercial service by 2035.
- We unveil today three concept planes.
- [Presenter] So, why now?
Well economists, climate change experts and engineers alike
are arguing that if governments attach climate conditions
to bailouts handed out in the pandemic,
it could not only help save the aviation industry,
but it could also help reduce its carbon footprint,
and crucially create new jobs.
- It's in these periods of recession and downturn
that governments spend the most.
And so really it is the single greatest opportunity
to redirect the future of our industries.
- [Presenter] So, could the coronavirus pandemic
lead to green air travel?
The aviation industry has been hit hard by the pandemic.
A 95% drop in air travel in April
has led to airlines canceling orders for new planes
and Boeing and Airbus axing tens of thousands of workers
with governments stepping in to provide aid.
In the US $25 billion has been offered to US airlines
through the Cares Act.
But some in the industry as well as scholars and officials
believe that governments
should be attaching climate conditions to stimulus.
- There's an opportunity to combine economic performance
and for positive environmental performance.
The benefits of adding green conditionality
to these bailouts is that you both protect the current jobs
and you induce new jobs both in the short-term
in some of the research intensive industries,
but then also in the long-term
in terms of actually building new products.
- [Presenter] So, what options are available
for the sector to decarbonize?
Well, the industry has been exploring ideas
for a few decades.
Despite its continued heavy dependency
on kerosene-based jet fuel,
it has managed to reduce its emissions per passenger
by some 70% since the 1960s.
Simply by focusing on making planes that are lighter
and can fly further using less fuel.
The problem is there are way more people flying now
than there were in the sixties,
and that's wiped out all of those gains.
And while researchers predict the pandemic will lead
to emissions dropping by more than a third this year,
it's expected that air traffic will rebound
in the coming years.
All of which leaves the sector nowhere closer
to hitting targets of cutting CO2 emissions in half
by 2050, compared to 2005 levels.
- If we want to make another big change
in emissions per passenger,
we need to radically change things.
- [Presenter] Gregoire Carpentier
is co-founder of Supaero Decarbo, a group of former students
from France's leading aviation university,
who are lobbying for the industry to decarbonize.
He believes that in its ambitions
to become less carbon intensive,
the aviation industry faces a problem
unlike many other industries.
- Therein massive amount of energy in a minimum space,
otherwise you cannot carry that energy in the air.
- [Presenter] While many alternatives to jet fuel
have been proposed they all share one common problem,
right now nothing is as efficient or economical as kerosene.
- Kerosene as been the most concentrated energy
that we ever found.
- [Presenter] Biofuels derived from organic biomass
are an alternative that's already available,
but it's currently more expensive than kerosene
and requires huge investment
to achieve widespread availability.
Battery technology has been tested by some companies,
including Airbus,
but the company believes they're just too heavy
to be economically viable in planes.
- We don't believe that really
it's a today relevant technology
for large commercial aircraft.
- [Presenter] And solar simply doesn't generate
enough power.
This solar-powered plane made by start-up Solar Impulse
has a wingspan wider than a 747
and is as light as a family car,
but can still only average 47 miles per hour.
This is where Airbus is hoping hydrogen
can become aviation's fuel of the future.
- One particular technology pathway,
which we find most promising is hydrogen.
- [Presenter] Remember those plane designs?
Airbus has said it can have these hydrogen planes
in production by 2035
and is hoping that by announcing them now,
it can prompt the rest of the industry to follow suit.
- We're putting a stake in the ground
and making it very clear that the aviation industry
needs to also be powered by renewable energy.
- [Presenter] But even hydrogen has its problems.
Right now it's projected to be more expensive than kerosene
and would take up more space,
which means less seats on the plane.
- It's four times more volumic than kerosene
so we store it in the fuselage
again and you see these aft part of the fuselage
being windowless.
- [Presenter] There's also the problem that hydrogen
is currently synthesized mostly by burning fossil fuels.
And while it might be good for powering small vehicles,
it may not be efficient enough
to power large planes on long haul flights.
- At least in the first iteration
of hydrogen aircraft technology,
long range will not be a market segment that we address.
- [Presenter] And of course, none of this technology
or its development comes cheap.
When talking about its ambition to make these planes
Airbus says...
- That is an ambition which will require billions
in terms of investment.
- [Presenter] Airbus hopes that some of that money
will come from the government,
if it's to turn its hydrogen concepts into a reality.
And that's where these bailout funds could come in.
In France Airbus' home,
the government has attached climate conditions
to recent investments.
Air France for example,
was bailed out by the French government
to the tune of some $8.2 billion in June this year,
under the condition
that the airline halves it's carbon emissions by 2030.
But while France may be using the pandemic
to push for its aviation industry to reduce emissions,
for some countries that opportunity may already have passed.
Brian O'callaghan's research
studied thousands of economic policies
and found that many have not opted for climate conditions.
- In total we find that at least $140 billion
has been spent on aviation.
Now of that we've seen only $14 billion,
only 10% with green conditions.
That is 90% of airline bailouts
that's going towards the continuation of a dirty industry
without enabling the long-term transition.
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