💸🔦 This week’s corporate CDR buyer spotlight: Airbus 💸🔦

The aviation industry contributes a significant amount of global emissions and decarbonization of the sector could make a huge difference in preventing the worst impacts of climate change over the next century. As a key player in aeronautics production, the Franco-German group Airbus’ commitments to emissions reductions and carbon removal are exciting to see.

What climate commitments has Airbus made?

✈️ Airbus has established a comprehensive strategy for decarbonization in the aviation industry. Their ambition for low-carbon air travel aligns with achieving 'net-zero carbon emissions by 2050' through innovative aircraft design and technological advancements.

⚡ Airbus continually enhances existing fleet efficiency by optimizing wings, engines, and materials, resulting in around 25% greater fuel efficiency in their latest generation aircraft. Airbus invests in disruptive solutions such as electrification, hybridization, and hydrogen propulsion to accelerate #decarbonization efforts.

🎯 Airbus aircraft and helicopters are capable of operating on a 50% blend of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF), with an objective to transition all commercial and military aircraft to 100% SAF by 2030.

What is Airbus’ carbon dioxide removal (#CDR) buyer strategy?

☁️ Airbus is collaborating with Carbon Engineering Ltd. to integrate Direct Air Carbon Capture and Storage (#DACCS) technology into the aviation industry. The DACCS process involves large-scale facilities that draw in air, extract CO2, and store it safely underground.

🤝 Airbus has pre-purchased 400,000 tonnes of carbon removals over four years from 1PointFive, which until the recent Microsoft/Ørsted deal was the biggest to date.

Overall, aviation is a sector that will be particularly hard to get to net-zero without CDR. SAF will play a key role, as should individual consumer choices and simply flying less. Beyond that, carbon dioxide removal strategies involving - among others - DACCS offer a complementary solution to achieve net-zero. It is promising to see companies like Airbus investing in CDR alongside their targets for low carbon air travel and emissions reductions.

📢Shoutout to the people at Airbus who are shaping its climate commitments, including Guillaume Faury, Nicolas Chretien, and Alessandra Badino CEng, FRAeS, FRGS, AIEMA.

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