To meet this great challenge, the “Financing the airport of tomorrow” project has taken shape, an initiative of the World Economic Forum (in particular the World Economic Forum’s Center for Nature and Climate) and Airport Council International.
What is it about?
The project focuses, first of all, on a radical transformation of airport facilities, which today are extremely energy-intensive infrastructures.
The idea is to turn them into energy hubs capable of producing, storing and distributing green energy themselves.
The second point of the project concerns strategies for the large-scale adoption of sustainable aviation fuels (SAF). That means devising innovative financing instruments for this goal.
“Examining the distribution of emissions outlined in the Air Transport Action Group’s Waypoint 2050 report,” write the authors of the project, “we find that 96% of air transport emissions come from aircraft with more than 100 seats. Surprisingly, 66% of these emissions are attributable to the highly successful single-aisle aircraft that dominate the market.
The remaining 4% is associated with aircraft of up to 100 seats, commonly used for regional routes. Therefore, to decarbonise most of these emissions in the short term, the focus is on SAF, which offer a technically feasible solution using the current aircraft and airport infrastructure.”
One of the crucial challenges is therefore to increase the production and supply of SAF. According to the report “Making Net-Zero Aviation Possible”, meeting demand will require 300 SAF production plants by 2030, with a projected need for up to 3,400 plants by 2050. “This requirement,” the report states, “represents a significant challenge in terms of the availability of raw materials, particularly because biomass resources are limited.”
According to the project, “if we consider the broader context of decarbonisation, the importance of electrification may exceed initial estimates. In particular, battery-electric aircraft offer the advantage of eliminating in-flight emissions.
In recent years, numerous projects for electric vertical take-off and landing vehicles have emerged. By 2035, electric aircraft with lithium-ion batteries are expected to have a maximum operating range of around 400 kilometres, which will increase to 600 kilometres by 2050.”
Electric motors, combined with other technologies, such as electric propulsion with SAF or hydrogen in hybrid aircraft, will be able to significantly extend the aircraft’s range.
Italy will also play its part
In all this, an important role is envisaged (and hoped for) for our country.
Indeed, Mundys, the parent company that controls several international airports including Aeroporti di Roma, is the corporate leader that will lead the part concerning financing.
The introduction of the necessary new financing instruments will be led by Mundys, which has already distinguished itself in the management and sustainable development of infrastructure and in sustainable finance practices.
There should be something like 18,000 civil airports involved in the decarbonisation challenge. The guidelines for concrete implementation will be presented during the upcoming COP 28, scheduled in Dubai from 30 November to 12 December 2023.
