Qantas wants SAF to account for one-tenth of its fuel use by 2030 and 60 per cent by 2050. The problem is supply. Only enough SAF is being produced today to replace less than 1 per cent of the global industry’s fuel use,and it’s not being made in Australia at all.
Qantas recently signed SAF supply contracts at airports in London and California,where billions of dollars of government support has helped get the industry off the ground,but there’s no such option at home.
“Their governments are putting a huge program in place because they think this is going to create a lot of jobs,it’s going to actually be great for the environment,great for the economy in the long run,” says Joyce. “So that’s what we’re missing here.”
Joyce believes customers will pay a voluntary surcharge to cover the initially higher cost of SAF,until production reaches scale and it falls to parity with conventional fuel (it’s generally now around twice the price now).
Corporate clients would be especially keen,he says,with large companies already asking the airline for more options to address their employees’ travel emissions.
“People have got to this decision:is it protecting the environment or is a flying?”
Qantas boss Alan Joyce
There is considerable hype around planes being developed to run on zero-emissions hydrogen,but Joyce says they are decades away,especially for longer flights,and he had to plan ahead with technology that was within reach today.
For the emissions Qantas can’t eliminate it will use carbon offsetting,by buying credits from tree planting projects or other schemes that absorb carbon or prevent it being released. Offsets will cover around half its 2030 improvement,and 30 per cent of its 2050 net zero target.
Fuel efficiency and SAF are expected to contribute 25 per cent each to the 2030 improvement target,and 40 per cent and 30 per cent to the 2050 target,respectively.
Around 11 per cent of Qantas customers pay extra to offset their flight emissions,and the carrier has offset 3 million tonnes of carbon since 2007. To put that in perspective,it emitted 12.4 million tonnes in 2019.
Loading
But the merits of offsetting is disputed by some climate experts and it’s even more controversial in practice,with recent claims that 80 per cent of government-certifiedcredits sold in Australia are “a fraud” that did nothing to abate emissions.
Even the boss of American airline giant United has saidmost credits “aren’t even real” and has pledged his carrier will reach zero emissions without them.
Joyce acknowledges “there are a lot of bad ones out there” but insists Qantas will only buy credits from high-integrity projects that make a legitimate difference to the environment. Better regulation could weed out dud schemes,he says.
The airline,ANZ and Japanese energy giant Inpex are developing a revegetation and carbon farming project in Western Australia’s Wheatbelt,which Qantas also hopes can grow crops for SAF production.
Loading
Climate Council researcher Tim Baxter says Qantas’ sustainability plan does a reasonable job of picking low-hanging fruit that reduces its carbon output now,but “the devil will be in the detail” as it works towards net zero over the next three decades.
“Getting completely off fossil fuels while flying at the moment is hard - those technologies are distant,” Baxter says. “The hard stuff is hard and that will be their conduct over the next decade,two decades.”
Asked about the easiest way to reduce aviation emissions - for people to just fly less - Joyce’s response is perhaps unsurprising:that sacrifice shouldn’t be necessary.
“Do we really want to… say that for the next generation:sorry guys,you really shouldn’t travel to Europe and see these amazing sights;you shouldn’t really go and see Uluru’,” he says. “You don’t have to make that tough decision if the airlines - and Qantas will be - do the right thing.”
The Business Briefing newsletter delivers major stories,exclusive coverage and expert opinion.Sign up to get it every weekday morning.