Transport Secretary Grant Shapps has today announced the Government’s Jet Zero Strategy, which he says will ‘deliver guilt-free flying’ in the future.

It includes a plan to make all domestic flights net-zero by 2040 and for all airports in England to be emissions free at the same time.

A further £3.7m is being provided to airports to help modernise their airspace to improve fuel efficiency by 2% a year, and £165m is being spent to develop sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) from sources such as household waste, cooking oil and sewage.

SAF offers greenhouse gas emissions savings of more than 70% compared to conventional fossil jet fuel, when fully replacing kerosene.

The Government’s plan includes requiring at least 10% of jet fuel to be made from sustainable sources by 2030.

The raft of measures announced by Grant Shapps today also includes a proposal to provide consumers with environmental information when they book their flights. A call for evidence on the proposal will be published this autumn.

Aviation accounts for 2.5% of global CO2 emissions, but, speaking at the Farnborough Air Show, Mr Shapps said: “We want 2019 to be remembered as the peak year for aviation emissions. From now on, it should all be downhill for carbon emissions – and steadily uphill for green flights.”

At the same time, easyJet has announced it is developing hydrogen engines which it hopes will power its narrow-bodied aircraft by the middle of the next decade.

EasyJet and engine-maker Rolls-Royce have entered into what they described as a ‘ground breaking new partnership’, H2ZERO, to pioneer the development of hydrogen combustion engine technology.

“Both companies have committed to working together on a series of engine tests on the ground, starting later this year and have a shared ambition to take the technology into the air,” they said in a joint statement.

“The objective of the partnership is to demonstrate that hydrogen has the potential to power a range of aircraft from the mid-2030s onwards.”

While Rolls-Royce will bring its expertise in engine development and combustion systems, easyJet will contribute its operational knowledge and experience to H2ZERO and will also directly invest in the test programme.

A test of a Rolls-Royce AE2100 engine will take place in the UK later this year, followed by a full-scale ground test of a Rolls-Royce Pearl 15 jet engine, possibly at its test facility in Mississippi.