Latin America and the Caribbean are seen as a key region and its agriculture as a protagonist for the development of sustainable aviation fuels, agreed more than a hundred authorities, experts and leaders from the air transport industry gathered at the central headquarters of the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation for Agriculture (IICA), in Costa Rica.
The event, which brings together decision-makers from the public and private sectors, is the Fuels and Environment Conference of the Latin American and Caribbean Air Transport Association (ALTA), which also participates in the Pan-American Liquid Biofuels Summit, carried out by IICA.
At the conference, the Director General of IICA, Manuel Otero, expressed that, along with the challenge of providing clean energy to the aviation industry, agriculture in the Americas has a great opportunity for the production of sustainable biofuels.
“Our continent has plenty of vegetable oils, animal fats, sugars, starches, alcohols and lignocellulosic materials; large amount of biomass that can be turned into sustainable aviation fuels,” he said.
“IICA is ready to build bridges with the regional aviation industry and promote innovation in this area, where agriculture in the Americas has great potential,” added Otero.
José Ricardo Botelho, Executive Director and CEO of ALTA, who is also participating in the conference in Costa Rica, said that, now more than ever, competitiveness is a pressing task for the aviation industry to be carbon neutral by 2050 and collaborate with mitigation and adaptation to climate change.
“The aviation industry’s climate change agenda must be the same as that of the Governments in the region, which is why the definition of public-private policies arises from the integration of all sectors involved”, added Botelho, who also mentioned the need to increase the sustainability of the airline industry through the use of sustainable fuels and cost reduction.
The Pan-American Conference and Summit represent an initial step towards advancing the construction of a partnership in the Americas to promote the development of sustainable aviation fuels, which are a valuable alternative for decarbonizing the environment.
“To achieve this objective, the air transport industry is committing to several measures that range from developing new technologies and improving infrastructure and operations, to carbon capture and offsetting,” said IICA’s international biofuels expert, Agustín Torroba.
“Biofuels are a response to these needs, there are already companies that are building factories to process them, as well as other companies that are purchasing volumes from a factory that has not yet been built; that’s how the market moves,” she added.
The IICA expert reported that, in the Americas, the industry can produce between 115 and 120 million cubic meters of ethanol and has factories to produce the raw material needed for biofuels.
Costa Rican authorities from the fuel, aviation and tourism industries also participated in the ALTA and IICA conference.
Juan Manuel Quesada, Executive President of the Costa Rican Petroleum Refiner (RECOPE), highlighted that the aviation sector will face, in the medium term, challenges of changing paradigms and diversifying the energy matrix that imply the development and adoption of new energy sources.
For this reason, he considered, it is imperative that governments and the private sector of the countries of the Americas come together to develop public policies that stimulate the energy transition.
In turn, Fernando Naranjo, Director of the General Directorate of Civil Aviation (DGAC), expressed that the air transport industry must seek solutions that allow progress in an international scope of compensation and reduction of carbon dioxide emissions.
“This industry promotes economy, connectivity, trade and many other activities that benefit countries in the region; therefore, it is necessary to find a way to mitigate and compensate future generations,” said Naranjo.
In this sense, Alberto López, General Manager of the Costa Rican Tourism Institute (ICT), asserted that the sustainable tourist activity offered by Costa Rica is the result of public-private policies that have been systematically applied for many years in the country.
Participants at the ALTA Fuels and Environment Conference analyzed topics related to the sector's legal structures, production, import and marketing of sustainable aviation fuels, sustainable airports and carbon offsetting mechanisms for airline passengers.
Receive the latest agriculture news by email
Receive the latest agriculture news by email
