For many climate change campaigners, aviation is a touchstone issue. It is not just that aviation already accounts for 2.5% of carbon dioxide emissions, or even that this figure could increase 10-fold by 2050 on some projections. Also, most people around the world do not fly: aviation, and its impact on the climate, is the preserve of a small minority of relatively wealthy people – around 20% of the global population.
Will the 20% have to fly less frequently in the future? Probably. But emerging aviation technologies also provide some potential solutions. If we can build zero-emission planes – not just cleaner craft – the aviation industry of the future may not be so damaging to the planet. Enter Cranfield Aerospace Solutions (CAeS), a British company racing to be the first in the world to develop a zero-emissions plane for commercial use.
CAeS’s big idea is a new form of propulsion, utilising hydrogen fuel cells – which release no carbon into the earth’s atmosphere -…