Rolls-Royce supports Europe’s path to climate neutrality
Image courtesy Rolls-Royce
The joint undertaking is the EU’s leading research and innovation programme for transitioning aviation towards a sustainable and climate neutral future, and will be a vital steppingstone on Europe’s path towards becoming the first continent to reach climate neutrality by 2050.
The Clean Aviation initiative will pull together the best talent and capability from both the private and public sectors to develop cutting-edge technologies, and make them available for a transformational leap in aircraft performance in the 2030s. The work will focus on novel hybrid electric and all-electric regional aircraft, innovative short and medium-range aircraft architectures with highly integrated, ultra-efficient thermal propulsion systems, and disruptive technologies enabling hydrogen-powered flight.
The technological and industrial readiness will allow the deployment of new aircraft with these technologies no later than 2035, enabling 75% of the world’s civil aviation fleet to be replaced by 2050.
Grazia Vittadini, designated Chief Technology Officer, Rolls-Royce, and our representative at the Clean Aviation governance board, said: “We are proud to be amongst the founding members of the EU’s Clean Aviation initiative and to collectively drive forward research and development that will make sustainable aviation a reality. We strongly believe technology can be a force for good and that the transition to net zero is both a societal imperative and a great commercial opportunity.”
The initiative will be supported by €1.7 billion worth of public funding, while the private sector will deliver additional programmes of work that exceed €2.4 billion. Clean Aviation will build on the achievements of the two successive Clean Sky Joint Undertakings, which have supported research and innovation in sustainable aviation technology since 2008 to significantly reduce CO2, NOx and noise emissions. With the UltraFan® development programme and demonstrators, such as ALPS, ALECSys, Advance3 and our megawatt hybrid-electric PGS1 demonstrator Rolls‑Royce is already intensively involved in research and development programmes funded under the Clean Sky initiative.
