Engineers at Airbus' UK Zero Emissions Development Centre are at the heart of the aerospace giant's bold plan to drive the development of hydrogen-fuelled flight. Melissa Bradshaw reports. Achieving net zero is a global cross-sector effort. But fewer industries face a bigger challenge than civil aviation. IBA, a leading consultancy for the sector, forecasted aviation's CO_2 emissions for 2022 to reach 800 million tonnes - a figure standing at 36 per cent higher than in 2021 - and predicted that in 2023, emissions will match the pre-pandemic peak of 916 million tonnes in 2019. All of the sector's major players are aware of the scale of the challenge, and exploring solutions ranging from sustainable aviation fuels (SAF) to the application of hydrogen technologies. One company feeling optimistic about the task ahead is the world's largest aircraft manufacturer Airbus, which is confident that by 2035 it will be able to introduce its first ever zero-emission commercial aircraft into service, the hydrogen-powered 'ZEROe'.
展开▼
