Sustainable fuels lacked focus at COP29: a deeper scientific insight is key to achieving a net-zero future
By Myfanwy Fleming-Jones
"Sustainable fuels derived from waste are essential for reducing our reliance on traditional fossil fuels, but without a deeper scientific dialogue, we risk missing critical insights needed to develop these solutions to their full potential" – Avioxx
The 2024 United Nations Climate Change Conference, more commonly known as COP29, was held in Baku, Azerbaijan from 11th to 22nd November 2024. This conference is held for governments to challenge and discuss limitations of climate change and prepare for a Net-Zero future whilst raising global ambition to tackle the issues we are facing.
Mukhtar Babayev, who is the Azerbaijani Minister of Ecology and Natural Resources of Azerbaijan Republic, presides this year’s event. Babayev has worked in various roles for the Azerbaijan state-owned oil company SOCAR since the 1990’s, continuing the controversy surrounding the leaders of the COP events as Azerbaijan is a major fossil fuel producer, with oil and gas making up half of its exports. Last year’s conference was held in a major petrostate, the United Arab Emirates, with the president Sultan Al Jaber who headed the country’s national oil company, Adnoc.1
Petrostates presiding these important discussions around sustainable fuel and a greener future whilst moving away from oil has caused expected disruptions to proceedings of this year’s event. This questionable leadership has also failed to highlight the reports of increased emissions since COP28 which ended with the slogan the “beginning of the end” of the fossil fuel era.
Avioxx, a pioneering company in waste-to-fuel technology, was unable to attend this year but has been disappointed by the lack of recognition for the sustainable aviation industry and alternative fuels at COP29. These critical discussions are being left unaddressed — issues that are essential for achieving net-zero emissions. While the development and progress of synthetic fuels have been impressive, the lack of insight shared on the subject at COP29 signals the need for more focused discussions on scientific progress and analysis, which are generating key solutions to the climate crisis.
"Our work demonstrates how synthetic fuels derived from waste can contribute to carbon reduction while addressing waste management, but discussions need to go beyond surface-level insights to evaluate the viability and scalability of these solutions."
Despite a slower start due to protestors surrounding the venue, COP29 has brought attention to several major fields working toward a net-zero future. This highlights the event's recognition of scientific research, yet it raises the question: why wasn't the aviation industry at the forefront of these conversations? The session titled Not Just Carbon: Why the World Needs Climate Action on Contrails (the white clouds produced by planes at cruising altitude) is one of the few organised events addressing the impact of the aviation industry on carbon emissions.2 The research presented in this talk showed that reducing contrails could significantly mitigate climate impacts caused by aviation. By rerouting just 3% of flights away from areas where contrails are produced, a vast majority of contrail warming could be improved.
This research is crucial for understanding the significance of the aviation industry in the net-zero transition, yet the discussion on contrails is one of the very few major highlights of the conference that recognises this.
The lack of innovation at COP29
As this year’s conference came to a close, the team at Avioxx was disappointed by the minimal discussions on sustainable fuels and carbon reduction strategies. Aside from The High-Level Energy Transition Dialogue, which touched on the importance of synthetic fuels such as e-gasoline, e-diesel, and sustainable aviation fuel (SAF), there was only one other session given high importance that discussed decarbonising the aviation industry. This brief session highlighted recent progress made by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) in addressing the impact of aviation on climate change and was titled “Implementing the Clean Energy Transition for International Aviation in Support of the UN Sustainable Development Goals.” The session focused on the actions being undertaken toward sustainable aviation and looked ahead to plans for achieving the Long-term Global Aspirational Goal (LTAG) of reaching net-zero carbon emissions for international aviation by 2050.3
This has been the only COP29 discussion that acknowledged the importance of cleaner aviation and how this field can drastically improve climate change. The session provided clarity on the importance of sustainable aviation and called for stakeholders to focus on harnessing clean energy and capacity-building for the future of aviation to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals. This is the kind of conversation that is necessary at events like COP29 to help reach the goals they have set in place for a greener future.
"At Avioxx, we believe that waste-derived fuels offer a crucial solution, reducing landfill waste and providing alternative fuel sources. However, realising this potential requires evidence-based strategies and thorough scientific analysis to guide policy and industry."
The role of sustainable fuels in driving change
Emerging SAF policies and mandates underscore the critical importance of transforming the aviation industry to combat climate change. However, COP29 overlooked essential scientific discussions surrounding the successes and challenges of producing synthetic crude oil from waste and failed to adequately address the significance of this industry and the significance of renewable transport fuels more generally. Avioxx emphasises that an evidence-based approach is crucial for evaluating the environmental and economic trade-offs of synthetic crude, and the firm is committed to using innovative research and scientific progress to position waste-derived fuels as viable alternatives to fossil-based crude.
Last year’s conference concluded with the overarching aim of keeping the global temperature rise within the 1.5°C limit. Yet, a year later, while no timeline was provided to “transition away from fossil fuels,” a 2% reduction by 2030 is a far cry from the 43% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions needed to align with a 1.5°C pathway. Projected energy use has increased, leaving total projected fossil fuel use in 2030 unchanged compared to forecasts made last year.4
Avioxx encourages those involved in or interested in reaching net-zero targets to consider the importance of sustainable fuels and how technological advancements and innovation in this field can make a significant difference—despite COP29 failing to give it the recognition it deserves.
To learn more about Avioxx and our novel SAF production process, please get in touch at info@avioxx.com.