In the UK, the Transport Committee has urged the UK Government to change its approach towards backing specific technology solutions to decarbonize the country’s transport sector, or risk failing its targets for cutting emissions. The Government has set a number of targets to decarbonize different sections of the transport sector over the next 30 years. But the Department for Transport (DfT) has chosen to take a neutral stance on which technologies it believes industry should focus on developing, in order for those carbon-cutting targets to be achievable. In its ‘Fuelling the Future’ report, published earlier this month, the cross-party Committee recommends that the Government invests in sustainable aviation fuels, which include both biofuels and synthetic fuels, using a ‘Contracts for Difference’ model. This is where the Government provides a company with capital for the upfront costs of developing a technology, while guaranteeing the price it will pay for the SAF when it comes on stream. The Committee concluded that sustainable aviation fuels are most likely to become the aviation sector’s fuel of choice to replace high polluting hydrocarbons.
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