Global aviation accounts for about 2% of greenhouse gas emissions, and many scientists are denouncing its impact and even encouraging people to stop flying. The restrictions on travel and the economic downturn caused by the COVID-19 lockdowns have totally reshuffled the deck: many of us have not traveled in the last year and a half. To survive, aviation must therefore reinvent itself, and one of the avenues is fuel. Jean Paquin is the CEO of SAF+ Consortium, a Canadian company making synthetic fuels from captured CO2 emissions from large industries.
Can fuels really be sustainable? How do we convince airlines to decarbonise? How do we make consumers aware of the real price of their plane tickets?
In this episode of Energ’Ethic, Jean talks about his vision of the evolution of the airline industry and how, out of a sense of duty to the planet and to his children, he managed to convince airlines to support and grow his project. He reminds us that moving away from fossil fuels is a difficult journey and that synthetic fuels are only a temporary solution before fully energy-efficient solutions are developed.
“We need to change clearly the paradigm and look at the way we sustainably survive, we need to embrace new technology that will move us away from fossil fuels and away from the need to consume more and more new resources without making efficient use of the ones we’ve used already“
Jean Paquin is the co-founder of the SAF+ consortium (“SAF+”) and the Carbon Consult Group. Jean is an engineer with over 25 years of experience in carbon management and the development of renewable energy projects worldwide. He has a wide range of expertise in engineering, management, project finance, Hydro, wind and solar generation.
Reach out to Jean Paquin on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeanpaquin/
SAF+ Consortium: https://safplusconsortium.com
