France to invest in low-emission planes, sustainable aviation fuels

France will invest several hundred million euros in the coming years to develop low-emission aircraft, engines and sustainable aviation fuels (SAF) as part of measures to make the French and European aviation industry greener, President Emmanuel Macron said on Friday.

President Macron visits the Safran Aircraft Engines site in Villaroche, near Paris 16 June 2023. REUTERS - GONZALO FUENTES

Some 300 million euros of public funds will be spent on aircraft and motor research, and 200 million euros on developing renewable fuels, Macron said on Friday during a visit of a site of aerospace engine-maker Safran in Villaroche, in the Paris region.

Public and private cash will be funnelled to developing small electric or hydrogen-powered aircraft and renewable fuels, including the construction of a SAF production plant in Lacq southwest France.

"We French must be the champions of the ultra-sober aircraft... and we have the power to do it," Macron said.

• France seeks to clamp down on 'ecocidal' private jets as climate crisis worsens

Aviation is a key sector of the French economy, with leading companies including Safran, Airbus and Dassault.

The industry employed 691,000 people in 2020 – seven percent of France's industrial workforce –  with annual revenues of 186 billion euros, according to national statistics authority Insee.

Up to four percent of global greenhouse emissions come from air transport, but the industry is one of the hardest sectors to decarbonise, with zero-emission aircraft not expected for more than a decade.

The impossible dream

The extra cash for low-emission planes was not welcomed by all.

"The zero-emission plane doesn't exist," leading French Greens MP Sandrine Rousseau told broadcaster Franceinfo before Macron spoke. "We might as well go looking for the Yeti."

Instead, "we should immediately take measures like reducing the number of trips by plane", she said.

France recently banned short domestic flights on routes that could be covered in less than two-and-a-half hours by high-speed rail, though environmentalists said the measure had been seriously watered down.

• France brings in watered-down ban on short-haul domestic flights
• French scientists call for ban on private jets, a symbol of 'climate inequality'

The aviation industry set a 2050 goal of net zero emissions in 2021. The main path is widespread use of sustainable aviation fuel, which so far makes up 0.1 percent of airline fuel consumption.

Macron's announcement comes ahead of the opening next week of the Paris Air Show, a fixture on the global aerospace industry's calendar.

(with newswires)