Research will analyze the scenarios for implementing Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) by 2050, as well as exploring paths related to low-carbon hydrogen, direct air capture and bioenergy with carbon capture and storage. The study will also evaluate the use of incentives, taxes and other instruments to offset the gases emitted by aviation. Researchers are due to present the results of the study in April 2024, with viable recommendations for decarbonizing aviation in Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Mexico and Peru.
LATAM Airlines Group and the manufacturer Airbus have signed an agreement to jointly finance a study led by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) on initiatives to decarbonize aviation in Latin America. The material should present analyses of the different scenarios for the implementation of Sustainable Aviation Fuels (SAF) by 2050, as well as exploring the paths related to low-carbon hydrogen, direct air capture and bioenergy with carbon capture and storage. The results should be presented in April 2024.
Called “Options for sustainably decarbonizing aviation in Latin America: an assessment of carbon policies, carbon prices and aviation fuel consumption to 2050”, the material should also evaluate the use of incentives, taxes and other instruments to offset the gases emitted by aviation. The analysis will provide practical recommendations for Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Mexico and Peru.
“As a complex sector for reducing carbon emissions, without a comprehensive short-term solution, neutrality by 2050 is not something that the aviation industry can achieve on its own. Progress needs to be made to define and implement favorable conditions and policy frameworks for the adoption of tools such as SAF (sustainable aviation fuel), carbon offsetting, new technologies, as well as operational efficiency. We also need to ensure that this transition is sustainable so that people can continue to benefit from the connectivity that aviation offers. We hope that this study can guide and drive collaborative efforts to advance the decarbonization of the sector in the region,” says Juan José Tohá, LATAM Airlines Group’s Director of Corporate Affairs and Sustainability.
Guillaume Gressin, Vice President of International, Strategic and Commercial Operations at Airbus Latin America and the Caribbean, adds: “Airbus is focused on reducing its own carbon emissions and is contributing to the mission set by ICAO and ATAG for aviation to reach net zero emissions by 2050. We aim to be a strategic player in the implementation of this roadmap and welcome initiatives and policies that encourage efficiency and innovation, including ambitious targets to increase SAF.”
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Joint Program on the Science and Policy of Global Change (MIT Joint Program) team is composed of natural and social scientists who study complex interactions between co-evolving and interconnected global systems and develop comprehensive projections of global and regional change under different environmental, economic and political scenarios. The projections enable decision-makers in the public and private sectors to better assess impacts and the costs and benefits associated with possible courses of action.