The aviation sector has set an assertive goal for itself: zero carbon emissions by 2050. It may be able to achieve this goal with a raw material that was previously regarded as kitchen waste.
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Tsuboi Yasuyuki, the manager of a Tokyo eatery, says he has begun receiving inquiries from businesses interested in taking used cooking oil for free. Some people have even offered to pay for it.
The reason for the surge in demand is that used cooking oil can now be used to make SAF or sustainable aviation fuel. Approximately one-third of the 400,000 tons collected in Japan in the previous year was used to fuel planes and other vehicles.
SAF is the aviation industry’s abbreviation for non-fossil fuel. The primary material used in production is used in cooking oil, but research is being conducted to identify other viable waste sources.
In October, the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) set a target for international carriers to reduce carbon emissions to near zero by 2050. This was done in response to growing public pressure on the aviation industry to reduce its carbon footprint.
The aviation industry emitted 915 million tons of CO2 in 2019, according to experts at the Air Transport Action Group. This amounts to about 2 percent of total global emissions.
SAF is increasingly seen as the aviation industry’s savior. According to estimates, replacing conventional jet fuel with SAF would reduce industry-wide emissions by approximately 80 percent.
