Southern Africa lags in adoption of sustainable aviation fuel, despite great potential

At the recent Farnborough International Airshow, in England, US-based global major aerospace group Boeing unveiled a new tool to model data, which it designated Cascade, which was created to map the ways that the global commercial aviation sector could reach the international target of having net-zero carbon emissions by 2050. “There are multiple ways to a future where aviation has zero climate impact,” noted Boeing chief sustainability officer Chris Raymond at the launch of the tool. “We created Cascade on a foundation of credible data and analytical models to allow users to explore various pathways to net-zero.” Different options to provide energy for aircraft propulsion, while significantly reducing or even eliminating carbon emissions, exist. The main ones are hydrogen, electricity (either pure or hybrid technologies) and sustainable aviation fuels (SAF).