Not My Monkey

In 2022, the aviation industry contributed to 2.5% of the world’s carbon emissions, and as we continue to import goods, these figures are set to rise three times as high in the coming twenty years. Whilst there have been various headways into sustainable air travel, most are, and won’t, be developed enough for decades to come. However, one promising pathway involves using cooking oil to power long-haul flights – also known as Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF). This blog discusses whether this type of fuel is actually sustainable for our Earth.

What is SAF?

Sustainable Aviation fuel is produced without the use of fossil fuels (yay!), and, therefore, has a smaller carbon footprint than conventional fuel and doesn’t drain the Earth’s natural resources. It has been proven that this method of power can reduce the emissions of a jet by 90%.

So what’s actually in it? Well, it’s referred to as cooking oil as it contains vegetables and animal fats collected from restaurants. Fast food chains such as McDonald’s are popular sources of this oil.

Efficiency

It is thought that SAF performs almost exactly the same as conventional fuel, and long-haul flights can safely complete their journey. However, current policies only permit commercial airlines to use up to 50% SAF mixed with conventional fuel.

Why not make the switch?

Unfortunately, the amount of fuel required to power the 100,000 flights that depart per day makes the timeline to fulfil this need rather lengthy. The lack of infrastructure means that within the global jet fuel market, SAF only contributes 1%.

The true colours

Even though cooking oil is recycled for SAF use, demand exceeds supply and, therefore, requires further crop production. It is argued that the land used to grow these crops should be focused on increasing the production of healthy and nutritious food for humans, many of whom are expereincing a food crisis due to the gap between food prices, wage rates and social allowances. Furthermore, increased land for farming requires deforestation, which destroys vital ecosystems and communities.

The verdict

So, whilst this is an effort to move the aviation industry away from its toxic states, it simply isn’t transformative enough to have an impact and change the course of Earth’s future.

The alternative development method is the electrification of aircraft, but maybe we shouldn’t be focusing on the planes but on those using them. Are there alternatives to air travel altogether? The holistic view of this issue is overlooked, why do we need to import so many products that countries, especially in the global north, are more than capable of producing? Our greed and need for convenience are destroying our home, and will continue to do so unless we change where our value lies.

What can I do?

Simply buy locally made products – whether that be national or regional.