Today, Salesforce,
Deloitte and a coalition of aviation and
energy companies launched a call for game-changing solutions to support the
decarbonization of
aviation.
The Sustainable Aviation
Challenge
— supported by Airbus, Breakthrough
Energy, Boom
Supersonic, JetBlue
Ventures, Qantas Airways
Limited, and World
Energy — calls for solutions that decarbonize
aviation, such as sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) and alternative-propulsion
technologies; and builds on WEF’s Airports of Tomorrow
initiative,
launched earlier this summer. The initiative is a collaboration between the
World Economic Forum (WEF)’s First Movers Coalition
(FMC) and its
UpLink innovation platform to scale and
commercialize advances in sustainable aviation.
WEF’s UpLink platform — launched at Davos 2020 in partnership with
Salesforce and Deloitte — has run more than 48 challenges across critical areas
of the UN Sustainable Development Goals; to
date, Uplink has selected over 400 “Top Innovators” with solutions related to
health, food, freshwater, ocean, plastics, education,
climate, resilient
cities
and more.
“UpLink helps scale world-class innovations by creating bridges between
entrepreneurs and the support they need from investors, partners, industry
leaders and experts,” says John
Dutton, Head of UpLink and
Member of the Executive Committee. “The Sustainable Aviation Challenge offers a
unique opportunity to connect promising startups with the ecosystem required for
achieving net-zero aviation — thus driving action for the SDGs.”
While air travel plays a vital role in connecting people and driving the global
economy, the aviation industry contributes to roughly 2 percent of total global
greenhouse gas emissions
(GHGs).
SAF — a non-fossil-based fuel produced from renewable resources, organic
materials or waste feedstocks — could play a major role in decarbonizing
aviation by significantly reducing emissions. Yet, despite a promising lift on
both the
innovation
and
investment
fronts, SAF is still expensive and not yet widely available. In support of this
initiative, Salesforce has purchased SAF sourced from World Energy; from United
Airlines,
as part of the EcoSkies Alliance; and from
JetBlue,
as part of the airline’s Sustainable Travel Partners
program
to help stimulate a market for low-carbon alternatives to traditional jet fuel.
“Accelerating climate technology innovation is essential to decarbonizing
aviation — one of the hardest-to-abate sectors,” says Adam
Klauber, World Energy’s VP
of Sustainability and Digital Supply Chain. “World Energy is excited to support
the Sustainable Aviation Fuel UpLink Challenge. Winning startups will be World
Energy's future partners, helping propel the aviation industry to new heights.”
The challenge also invites next-generation aviation solutions including
alternative-propulsion technologies such as hydrogen and batteries; as well as
innovations in feedstock, engineering, and physical and market infrastructure.
“To meet our climate goals, we must bring disruptive clean technologies to
market at scale,” says Suzanne
DiBianca, EVP and Chief Impact
Officer at Salesforce. “Together with our partners, Salesforce thoughtfully
approached this sustainability challenge as a way to support and foster
innovative ideas from ecopreneurs who aim to help decarbonize the aviation
industry.”
Proposals will be accepted from August 24 through
October 2, 2023; and “Top Innovators” will be announced later in the year.
Selected ventures will receive support for their commercialization and
deployment efforts; as well as assistance with brand building, visibility and
peer-to-peer learning opportunities.
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Sustainable Brands Staff
Published Aug 24, 2023 8am EDT / 5am PDT / 1pm BST / 2pm CEST