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Climate change
Business

Analysis | Climate change: is entrepreneurship the magic touch for turning zero-emission planes and ships into commercial reality?

  • If left unabated, the aviation industry’s contribution to climate impact could reach 25 to 50 per cent by 2050
  • While electric cars are already all the rage, zero-emission ships and planes are mostly research projects, unlikely to be commercially deployed for the next 15 years

Reading Time:7 minutes
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Eric NgandPeggy Sito
When Tesla beat expectations in 2017 and delivered 102,000 electric cars to customers, the feat inspired an entrepreneur born in the former Soviet Union to think big: one day, battery packs can power airplanes too, not just cars.
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Valery Miftakhov, who holds a doctorate in physics from Princeton University, founded the start-up ZeroAvia that same year and developed a system for running electric motors with hydrogen fuel cells. With backing from the UK government, British Airways, private investors – including Hong Kong tycoon Li Ka-shing’s Horizons Ventures as one of the most active funders – and commercial partners, the company tested the world’s first zero-emission hydrogen fuel-cell flight last year.

ZeroAvia, based in the village of Cranfield north west of London, is aiming to start offering commercial flights by 2024, using aircraft with 10 to 20 seats with a range of 350 nautical miles (648 kilometres). The company plans to fly planes with the capacity for 80 passengers and 500-nautical mile range by 2026, and 100-seat, single-aisle jets by 2030.

“Elon Musk catalysed the electric vehicle revolution, and we intend to do the same in aviation,” Miftakhov said in a video interview with South China Morning Post. “Aviation is the fastest-growing source of greenhouse gas emissions, [which is] why regulators worldwide are pushing for green aviation and net-zero carbon emissions by 2050.”
ZeroAvia’s single-propeller plane powered by hydrogen fuel cells. Photo: ZeroAvia.
ZeroAvia’s single-propeller plane powered by hydrogen fuel cells. Photo: ZeroAvia.

ZeroAvia is one of many efforts racing to commercialise zero-emissions power sources for the shipping and aviation industries, as the world grapples with ways to reverse its reliance on fossil fuels. If the current usage is not abated, the aviation industry’s contribution to climate impact could reach 25 to 50 per cent by 2050, Miftakhov said.

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The progress in aviation and shipping to decarbonise, or switch to non-oil power sources, has been slower than electric cars and trucks, even if the industry’s overall carbon footprint is smaller than road transport. Ships and planes generated 900 million tonnes of carbon emissions in 2018, compared with the 6 billion tonnes – 18 per cent of all energy-related emissions – generated by passenger and freight vehicles, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA).

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