Get ready to fly across the Atlantic on fuel made from used cooking oil and fats.
Virgin Atlantic just announced that it will operate a net zero carbon transatlantic flight from London to New York in 2023, using safe aviation fuel (SAF).
The Boeing 787 flight is part of the company’s efforts to reduce carbon emissions and combat climate change.
In a statement, Virgin Atlantic CEO Shari Weiss said, “The research and results will be a huge step in fast-tracking SAF use across the aviation industry and support the investment, collaboration, and urgency needed to produce SAF at scale. Our collective ambition of Net Zero by 2050 depends on it.”
The company aims to become the world’s first net zero carbon airline by offsetting all its carbon emissions by 2050. To achieve this goal, Virgin Atlantic will work with its suppliers and partners to reduce its carbon footprint, invest in renewable energy and carbon capture technologies, and offset its remaining emissions through verified carbon reduction projects.
Virgin Atlantic has also committed to investing in research and development of new technologies that could help it achieve its net zero carbon target.
Related: A Vodka Company Now Makes Sustainable Fuel for Planes
What the critics are saying
Not everyone is celebrating this latest announcement. Some critics say flights like this are misleading since they give the impression that the airlines are doing something about air pollution when, in fact, stunts like these are one-offs.
Writes CNN, “They [the critics] say the air industry is trying to give the impression it’s on the brink of full sustainability, rather than its stated goal of halving 2005 emission levels by 2050, and that SAF use can still have environmental consequences.”
Moreover, at the moment, there is not a strong economic incentive for airlines to switch over to SAF.
“There’s no real business case for the sector to invest in it at the moment,” Andreas Schafer, a professor of energy and transport at University College London, told CNN Travel.