Debate over "green fuel" at African Aviation Biofuel Summit

From extracting biofuels from tobacco crop to planting trees for each passenger flown, the African Aviation Biofuel Summit is trying to balance the emissions and deforestation debate.

United Nations and Ethiopian Airlines have forged a partnership under "Plant one tree for every passenger flown" project. The airlines will plant more than eight million trees, one for each passenger.

The memorandum of understanding was signed on the sidelines of the ongoing summit in the Ethiopian capital of Addis Ababa. “Because UN environment and Ethiopian Airlines share common goals and objectives, we wish to collaborate in areas of mutual concern,” said Juliette Biao, head of the UN Environment’s regional office for Africa.

The MoU will also focus on greening Ethiopian Airline business through the provision of training on sustainable consumption and production, integrated waste management, hazardous chemical treatment and capacity development on air quality monitoring.

In a separate deal, Boeing Company has entered into an agreement with the South African government, South African Airways (SAA), World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), and various energy research organizations to identify biofuel feed stocks in Africa.

Last year, SAA and its subsidiary operator Mango experimented with using biofuel produced from tobacco plants for powering its aircraft. The Boeing 737-800s flew from Tambo International Airport near Johannesburg and over Cape Town.

Environment groups claim large scale use of biofuel is leading to deforestation

Biofuels are manufactured from oils, sugars, and biomass from plants, rather than from fossil fuels. A recent Stockholm Environmental Institute’s study estimates that biofuels could feasibly reduce aviation’s emissions by as much as nine percent between 2020 and 2035.

WWF South Africa maintained that Africa has become one of the world’s major growth areas for aviation biofuel feed stock. More than 550 million hectares of land are available for production of biofuel

in Africa.

Biofuel sector, dominated mainly by the US, Europe, and Brazil, manufactures around 150 billion liters of biofuel annually. International Civil Aviation Authority (ICAO) estimates that there is a massive gap between demand and supply, fuel consumption for international aviation is likely to cross 850 million tons by 2050.

The organization also suggests a requirement for 425 million tons of biofuel to meet greenhouse gas emissions-reduction goals, a supply-demand gap of nearly 275 million liters of biofuel.

However, ICAO’s plan to reduce emissions through the large-scale use of biofuel is facing severe criticisms from various environmental groups. More than 100 green organizations in a statement claimed biofuel has led to massive deforestation in Indonesia, Malaysia, and recently in Africa.

The deforestation has led to habitat loss of many species and led to conflict among indigenous people. The ICAO envisions 70 such biorefineries being set up every year, with governments launching programs to push the production of “sustainable aviation fuel”, a petition by environmentalists claimed.

“Ultimately, this will mean clearing rainforests to make room for ever more oil palm plantations – and releasing millions of tons of carbon into the atmosphere in the name of 'green air travel',” they mentioned in the petition.

(CGTN)