Transportation

Aviation is a controversial topic within sustainable and efficient transport issues – it has been the subject of greenwashing and disinformation, making ‘sustainable’ aviation claims appear untrustworthy or suspicious. However, organisations such as Solar Impulse Foundation are working to advance green aviation and prove that there could potentially be an alternative to the climate impact of regular fossil-fuel powered flight.

ESG Mena spoke with Betrand Piccard, Founder of Solar Impulse, to find out more about green aviation, fossil fuel alternatives and realistic timeframes.

• Please tell us more about the latest in terms of green aviation

Well, when we speak of green aviation, we have to speak about operations that can be much cleaner and more efficient, with consistent, dedicated approach, with direct routes, with electric facilities on the airport. But this is not what will completely change aviation. I think we now have to aim at the ultimate way to decarbonise, which is hydrogen.

Of course, you have a lot of people who will say it will never happen, it’s impossible, it’s too expensive – but may of these revolutions have already happened. You know, for mobile phones, it was considered impossible to have a mobile phone in every pocket. Now, we have antennas everywhere and mobile phones in the pockets. And it will happen like this.

For hydrogen, we just need to reach the critical mass. That means the quantity of production and the quality of demand. The price will drop – like for photovoltaics, where the price was divided by 40 over the last 25 years.

So hydrogen, if we believe in it, it will happen.

• Is the future E-SAF or SAF? – (E-SAF is SAF that is not biofuel, SAF itself is biofuel).

Well, I think both will happen. For E-SAF, you take the CO2 from wherever you can, and you combine it with green hydrogen, and you have hydrocarbon chains.

You’ve captured CO2, you have it here in your hands, you could put it in the ground, instead, you make a fuel and put it back in the atmosphere. So, in a way, it’s neutral, it could be negative, but you could sequestrate it.

This is why I believe in hydrogen, which is outside of the cycle of carbon.

• Some people have doubts in terms of the timeline, can you say when we can expect development updates?

Like always, the pioneers are early and the industry comes later, so what we need are the pioneers to open the way.

I have the construction of Climate Impulse underway – it’s a two-seater hydrogen plane that has to fly non-stop around the world in nine days with zero emissions by 2028. Of course, it’s experimental, it’s not yet certified to take passengers.

So between now and the moment where hydrogen aeroplanes can carry passengers in a certified way, we will need the sustainable aviation fuel, that’s for sure. It will be an intermediate fuel before hydrogen will take over.

I would say, 10 to 15 years to have the first hydrogen aeroplane certified for passengers, and then you have the replacement rates, which will be quite long. I would say 50 years before we really have hydrogen aviation, meanwhile SAF or E-SAF, clean and efficient operations.

Our hydrogen aeroplane is a way to make the hydrogen industry more desirable, to show that you can make the ultimate flight non-stop around the world, zero emissions with green hydrogen. If it’s possible there in the sky, it’s possible everywhere.