UK announces £3 million funding for sustainable aviation fuel

The UK government will award businesses and universities around the UK up to £50,000 each to pioneer critical research into infrastructure, such as charge points and hydrogen fuelling tanks, that will enable the mass uptake of electric and hydrogen aircraft.

Part of the Prime Minister’s Ten Point Plan, the £3 million fund will ramp up the move towards sustainable flying to support aviation reach net zero by 2050.

This follows on from news that members of the Jet Zero Council, British Airways, this week carried out the world’s first net zero carbon freighter flights powered by a mix of sustainably sourced waste such as cooking oil. This is set to be the first of many flights with British Airways ordering 1.2 million liters of the fuel.

Harnessing the economic and environmental benefits

UK Transport Secretary Grant Shapps commented: “As the first major economy to commit to net zero by 2050, we’ve gone further than any country in the world to slash our aviation emissions.

“Now is the time for organizations and companies to take advantage of the opportunities we have provided to harness the economic and environmental benefits building back better and greener has to offer.”

This funding, taken together with the £3 million of Zero Emission Flight Infrastructure funding announced on 30 June, means the government has provided over £20 million of new funding for the decarbonisation of the sector since the Council formed last year.

In June, a rescue helicopter in Germany has flown on sustainable aviation fuel for the first time, achieving a new milestone in international aviation.