Tourism Expo Japan 2022, one of the world’s largest travel events, is being held at Tokyo Big Sight (Ariake, Koto-ku, Tokyo) for four days from September 22 to 25.
The keynote speaker on the first day of the event was Mr. Shinichi Inoue, Chairman of the Scheduled Airlines Association and President and Representative Director of ANA, who gave a speech titled, “Now, to the skies of the future: the challenge of a sustainable aviation industry”. One of the themes of this year’s Tourism Expo Japan was “Tourism’s Challenge to Climate Change,” and Mr. Inoue spoke about decarbonization efforts centered on SAF (Sustainable Aviation Fuel).
Mr. Inoue began by reviewing international efforts to address climate change. He mentioned that the Kyoto Protocol and the Paris Agreement, the post-2020 framework, are international agreements to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and explained that Japan’s then Prime Minister Kan had set a long-term goal for the Japanese government in 2020 with the “Carbon Neutral Declaration for 2050.
In response to this declaration, he said that while the Japanese airline industry follows the framework of the Paris Agreement for domestic flights, it is difficult to sort out to which nation the CO2 generated by transportation belongs for international flights, so common targets and schemes are set by ICAO (International Civil Aviation Organization), a specialized agency of the United Nations. Mr. Inoue said, “Of all industries, the aviation industry emits only 2% of CO2, but we are working to contribute as much as we can to the sustainability of mankind. Sustainability is essential for us to preserve the value created through the transportation of people and goods for the next generation.
Inoue also described the reality that decarbonizing air transportation is technically difficult as “our big challenge. Inoue said that SAF, among these, “will play the most significant role toward achieving net-zero emissions by 2050.
Unlike conventional aviation fuel derived from petroleum (kerosene), SAF is an alternative fuel produced from animal and vegetable oils and fats, biomass, etc. One of its features is that it can use existing infrastructure such as airport refueling facilities without modification (drop-in fuel). Although it is still technically challenging to apply hydrogen and electricity to current aircraft (especially over long distances), a major advantage of SAF is that it can be easily combined with current internal combustion engines.
However, using SAF as fuel does not eliminate CO2 emissions; engines still produce CO2, just like existing fuels, and the mechanism by which SAF reduces CO2 emissions is not in flight, but in the life cycle. Unlike petroleum fuels, which release carbon dug up from the ground into the atmosphere, SAF reduces CO2 emissions through a “carbon recycling” mechanism that utilizes carbon already existing on the ground.
Even so, the CO2 reduction effect of SAF is only 90%, and the remaining 10% of emissions cannot be curbed. Therefore, Mr. Inoue explained that a combination of multiple methods, as described by IATA, would be effective. Note that SAF made in Japan has not yet been commercialized. Mr. Inoue stated that the mass production and price reduction of domestically produced SAF is the key to carbon neutrality in the aviation industry in the future.
© Source travel watch