This article features in issue two of Connected Places magazine.

Cities are responsible for over 70% of global energy-related carbon emissions yet cover only 3% of the Earth’s surface. They are already home to more than half the world’s population and by the end of the century that will be closer to 80%. Our cities are the engine rooms of national and global economic activity – vibrant, chaotic melting pots of trade, culture and innovation.

Yet cities are the places where so many of humanity’s greatest challenges play out too – from warfare and social unrest to economic shocks and severe weather events. So it’s not surprising that cities are grabbing our attention more than they did only a few short decades ago.

Because if temperature rises stay on their current trajectory, and both the Paris Agreement and 2050 net-zero emissions targets are not met, the outlook is bleak. According to the Swiss Re Institute, without action over the next 30 years global temperatures could rise by 3°C and the world economy could shrink by 18%. The scale of investment required to mitigate that scenario is eye-watering. It is estimated that $4 trillion per year in infrastructure investment is needed in developing countries alone.

Yet adapting to the climate crisis also has its opportunities. The New Climate Economy for instance has estimated that bold action could result in a direct economic gain of $26tn by the 2030s.

Either way, without finance, cities will not achieve a green transition at the scale and pace required. One of the problems is that cities vary significantly in their ability to attract new finance for low-carbon infrastructure. Cities the world over struggle to access private investment. This is often due, among other challenges, to institutional capacity, limited taxation powers, and the constraints of national policies.

Without action over the next 30 years global temperatures could rise by 3°C and the world economy could shrink by 18%. The scale of investment required to mitigatenthat scenario is eye-watering.

The World Bank Group has estimated that among 500 large cities in developing countries only 5% have credit ratings that are recognised on international capital markets. According to the C40 Cities Finance Facility, only 0.8% of the capital managed by pension funds, sovereign wealth funds, insurance companies and other institutional investors is currently allocated to infrastructure.

So as cities themselves are grabbing our attention more, the question of how to finance the transition to a low-carbon economy is also grabbing the attention of those who lead them.

A new platform for UK cities

One of the ways in which that question is being answered in the UK is through the Cities Commission for Climate Investment (3Ci). It was established, with the support of the UK Government, to address these challenges of collaboration and scale head-on. A joint initiative between the Connected Places Catapult, Core Cities, and London Councils, 3Ci is a coalition of 12 of the UK’s largest cities working together with the wider local government sector and the M10 mayoral group to tap into new ways of securing private investment into place-based net-zero infrastructure.

What 3Ci has found is that, by aggregating the low carbon investment plans of the UK’s largest cities – worth an estimated £330bn – it’s possible to create a more attractive and substantial proposition for investors. Projects include the retrofit of homes and commercial properties, integration of renewable energy, shifts to sustainable transport, circular waste management, and improvements to green spaces and waterways.

Local authorities, even large cities, tend to lack the in-house skills and expertise for the scale of the net-zero investment challenge. So 3Ci is creating a national technical assistance programme to grow the skills base for investment. On the ground a series of geographically diverse pilots will help test and demonstrate the delivery of new financial models that can aggregate opportunities across different sectors and facilitate investment at scale.

Longer-term plans include a development fund to secure £100bn of financing, as well as an investment fund to provide capitalisation worth £200bn, contributing a 10% increase in Gross Value Added and 10,000 new jobs across the supply chain.

New innovations in city finance

The work of 3Ci is in response to the rise of innovative finance in cities – new experiments in combining technical innovation with policy, regulation and bespoke finance instruments to create new ways to fund net-zero infrastructure.

It would be tempting to think that this is mostly a question of how to raise money for a city’s existing spend requirements, for example a project that has a funding gap. It is true of course that cities are now experimenting with new blends of public and private finance, debt and equity, as well as mixing infrastructure investments into portfolios of tradable assets. Performance-based green bonds are being tested where the return to the investor is directly correlated to the impact achieved and the cost of debt then falls as targets are met.

It’s also true that there is a growing appetite for community investment structures where citizens can invest in new infrastructure in their own areas. This is where financial tools can enable a local culture of innovation to develop around the low-carbon economy. Fostering local entrepreneurialism can be a practical way of recognising that municipalities may not have the answers, but the start-up and social enterprise sectors may well do. This is where angel investment funds and equity stakes can support successful start-ups in ways that align them with the city’s own climate objectives, while generating a return so that capital can be reinvested.

But while all of these new finance tools are important, in the long term cities also need to be thinking more innovatively at the project design stage. Designing projects that are fit for private investment from the get-go, and in ways that will maximise their chances of getting funded is crucial.

Practical support for UK cities

A powerful way of doing that at scale is for cities to join forces. To support this, 3Ci is developing a National Net Zero Project Pipeline of local and regionally led bankable projects. This has been informed by a series of regional investor forums that have brought cities and local governments together – often for the first time – with investors to showcase opportunities and build confidence and trust.

In many cases, the technical solutions are largely known and are already being successfully financed and implemented at the local level. The aim is to demonstrate the level of public and private investment required across the UK, and where opportunities might lie for scaling.

Hackney accelerates electric vehicle charging

Nationally, the UK is aiming for 55% of vehicles on its roads to be electric by 2032. But the London Borough of Hackney plans to smash that target by aiming for a 90% uptake by 2030. This is already being facilitated by a rapid roll out of electric vehicle (EV) charge points from around 300 council-owned points today to 3,000 (at least one per estate) by 2030.

The charge points will be powered from 100% renewable sources and in some cases locally generated. But they will also be sustainable in another sense because the scheme is projected to raise more than £9m in income for the council.

Councillor Mete Coban MBE serves as Hackney’s Cabinet Member for Energy, Waste, Transport and Public Realm. For him, the scheme is helping local residents make the green transition easier while complementing other projects to promote active travel and electrify the Council’s own fleet of vehicles.

“These new charging points will help reduce the concerns some people have about switching to an electric vehicle,” he says. “In turn, this will benefit all of our residents as it will also help enhance the borough’s air quality.”

Reimaging Belfast’s maritime economy

While CO2 often makes the headlines, sulphur and nitrous oxides also contribute to the acceleration of global warming. Shipping produces around 14% of these gases, which are also the main drivers of acid rain in cities. If nothing changes, maritime emissions could increase by as much as 250% by 2050.

The City of Belfast has a thriving innovation economy centred around its Titanic quarter. The Council and Artemis Technologies have launched the world’s first 100% electric foiling workboat which is creating new, low-emission ways of moving goods and people across its waterways. The Belfast Maritime Consortium is also now developing a high-speed zero-emission electric hydrofoil ferry, with the first vessel expected to launch as a pilot ferry service between Bangor and Belfast in 2024.

The speed of this development highlights the advantages of bringing together place leaders, investors and inventors. Clare Guinness is the Belfast Innovation District Director and for her it’s an example of how Belfast is punching above its weight and a testament to the power of place-based innovation and collaboration:

“With the talents of Artemis Technologies”, she says, “an anchor tenant in Belfast’s thriving Innovation District, and its revolutionary range of green sea vessels, the city is once again set to be at the forefront of global change, and we couldn’t be prouder.”

A growing partnership across the public and private sectors

3Ci is a first for the UK and it is already attracting attention from around the world. The Commission is also now creating a wider partnership, including UK Government, Innovate UK, Metro Mayors, Combined Authorities, Scottish and Key Cities, Counties and Districts and a growing league of private investors, financiers, advisors, developers and built environment technology professionals.

Want to find out more about 3Ci?

Connected Places Catapult, the UK’s innovation accelerator for cities, transport, and place leadership, and Network Rail, have announced today (Monday 17 October 2022) that Bristol’s iconic train station is to host trials of innovative passenger technologies thanks to a new partnership between Network Rail and Connected Places Catapult.

The programme is selecting start-ups aiming to test new ways to improve various aspects of the passenger experience: from making journeys smoother with smarter ticketing, to making stations more accessible with wayfinding apps; from using AI to improve people flow, to designing better facilities using human-centred design principles.

The Catapult is directing millions of pounds of Innovate UK funding into the programme, which sees Bristol Temple Meads named as the UK’s first Station Innovation Zone. The five-year programme will pioneer the approach and plans are in place to roll out the model to other stations as it succeeds.

“We’re delighted to be partnering with Connected Places Catapult on this new programme which will provide SMEs with crucial funding opportunities and Network Rail with new, innovative ideas on how to further enhance the experience of our passengers.u0022u003cbru003eu003cbru003e“We are committed to developing Bristol Temple Meads into a world class transport hub for the benefit of our passengers, the city of Bristol and wider West of England region, so it is fitting Bristol Temple Meads has been chosen as the UK’s first Station Innovation Zone.”

Francis McGarry, Network Rail Wales u0026amp; Western region Investment Director

“Innovate UK is strongly committed to partnerships to deliver future transport systems that are connected, accessible, sustainable, and safe. So, we see this partnership between our Connected Places Catapult and Network Rail as an important step to support delivery of passenger technology for the future.”

Indro Mukerjee, CEO, Innovate UK

“Innovation is tough in any industry and rail is especially hard because of the number of assessments and permissions required. The net effect is that it takes too much time and costs too much for most small businesses to engage. Partnering with Network Rail to create a multi-year Station Innovation Zone in Bristol’s vibrant Temple Quarter will enable us to support numerous small companies in navigating these challenges and benefit passengers’ experience of the station.”

Nicola Yates OBE, CEO, Connected Places Catapult

Applications opened today for start-ups with ideas that could be trialled in the Station Innovation Zone. Passengers are likely to see the first trials beginning early next year.

This announcement of the Station Innovation Zone follows the Government’s levelling-up announcement of £95m for the Bristol Temple Quarter regeneration programme and the Catapult funding will complement the ongoing revitalisation of the station. Around £60m of the funding from Government will enable improvements in and around Bristol Temple Meads Station, including three new entrances to the station, as well as infrastructure works and new public spaces nearby.

“We are delighted that Connected Places Catapult and Innovate UK have chosen Bristol Temple Meads as the country’s first Station Innovation Zone. Temple Meads is at the heart of Temple Quarter, and the innovation funding from the Catapult, combined with recent funding of £95million Bristol secured from Government, matches our commitment to making Temple Meads and its surrounding area a world-class gateway to the city region. This is an exciting new chapter for Brunel’s iconic train station as we prepare for new sustainable homes, quality jobs and inclusive opportunities in Bristol.”

Marvin Rees, Mayor of Bristol

The University of Bristol is developing its presence in Temple Quarter near the station, recently opening the Temple Quarter Research Hub, housing the Bristol Digital Futures Institute with a large scale data-center and a sector agnostic digital twin.

u0026quot;Bristol Digital Futures institute is a cross-disciplinary research institute driving digital innovation with a focus on inclusion, prosperity and sustainability.  We look forward to working with Connected Places Catapult on the Station Innovation Zone to transform the way digital technologies are created, deployed and consumed by transport hubs such as our own railway station at Temple Meads.”

Professor Dimitra Simeonidou, Co-Director of Bristol Digital Futures Institute

Together with Climate action we have created a discussion panel titled From Global to Local: “Climate change will be won and lost in cities”. You will hear from 3Ci speakers such as Marvin Rees, Mayor of Bristol or Susan Aitken, Councillor of Glasgow how we can maximise collaboration between cities to ignite new global innovations and how cities are driving systematic change using innovative financing techniques, smart policies and digital technologies to develop a climate smart and resilient built environment.

The panel will be screened live on Thursday 10 November 2022 at 12:25.

Don’t miss out this important discussion and register to hear more.

 

The scale of the challenge is clear. Heavy Goods Vehicles (HGVs) are vital to industry and represent the backbone of trade and commerce worldwide. They are responsible for ensuring we have access to food, medicines, and goods of all kinds. 89% of domestic goods transported in the UK in 2020 were moved by road – the vast majority of which in HGVs. However, these vehicles produced 16% of UK domestic transport greenhouse gas emissions in 2019, and this needs to be reduced to zero by 2050.

The Pathway to Long Haul HGVs report was, itself, a culmination of extensive research and stakeholder consultation. Connected Places Catapult investigated the promising technologies for zero-emission road freight and started to build the business case for large scale trials and wider deployment. We consulted widely on state of the art and barriers to deployment.

Potential pathways to zero or low emission HGVs, produced by Professor Neville Jackson on behalf of Connected Places Catapult.

Within the Pathway document, we set out actions that we felt would enable the transition, which included:

• Setting a clear vision
• Funding and de-risking the transition
• Developing trust in the technology
• Deploying initial infrastructure
• Progressing regulations and standards
• Building the UK supply chain
• Enabling a sustainable market

The key recommendation was to gather evidence and mature the technologies through large-scale demonstrations operating in real-world conditions in the UK.

The Catapult’s business case work helped to secure £20m of funding to accelerate the rollout of zero-emission road freight, and following the publication of our study in March 2021, Innovate UK launched the Zero Emission Road Freight competitions, covering areas such as hydrogen fuel cells, electric road systems, supply chain technology, battery electric HGVs and supply chain technologies. The winners of these competitions were published in August 2021.

This funding enabled industry partners, such as vehicle manufacturers, infrastructure providers and technology companies, to come together with local authority representatives, freight operators and academics to develop detailed plans for the rollout of large-scale trials. The Catapult has been at the heart of these conversations, which have included representatives from the Department for Transport, Innovate UK, National Highways, National Grid, the Zemo Partnership, Logistics UK, the Road Haulage Association, and many others.

Further good news arrived earlier this year, as it was confirmed that major funding has been secured to deploy the significant infrastructure and large number of vehicles needed for successful trialling of zero-emission HGVS, in a real-world commercial context in the UK. Again, the Catapult’s technical and cost modelling inputs contributed to this funding award.

In addition, the Catapult has produced a suite of outputs to help inform partners and build robust foundations for the trials. The Catapult’s focus areas have included trial data strategy, export potential, safety and regulations, standards and market operations. This has included publication of the following reports which are available to download.

The purpose of this report is to document findings from a review of global standards and provide recommendations on a standardisation programme that would enable safe and effective roll out of Zero Emission Road Freight Trials and establishment of a longer-term sustainable market.

The purpose of this report is to examine the UK’s export opportunity in three emerging zero-emission HGV technologies: Hydrogen Fuel Cells, Battery Electric Vehicles, and Electric Road Systems.

The purpose of this report is to set out the safety activities that are required for safe on-road Zero Emission Road Freight Trials.

The purpose of this report is to set out findings from a review of the hazard landscape and key safety considerations for the proposed Zero Emission Road Freight Trials.

The purpose of this report is to identify what data needs to be collected from trials for evaluation purposes, to outline necessary data collection methods and to identify key stakeholders that would need to engage with this data collection approach.

The purpose of this report is to explore Connected Places Catapult decarbonisation projects across road, rail, maritime and aviation. To consider potential alignment, pre-empt interoperability challenges, highlight operational and implementation synergies and accelerate industry learning.

What’s Next?

Now that funding has been secured and foundations have been laid, the next step is to progress with the design of the demonstrator projects, and consider how such demonstrations can progress to wide-scale commercial deployments of the right infrastructure and vehicles to meet the needs of freight operators.

Meanwhile, the Catapult will be undertaking work on a host of enabling actions, as per the recommendations detailed within reports, to ensure technology can be deployed in a safe and secure manner. This will include investigations into standards, regulations, safety and security and UK export potential. If you would like to be involved in these discussions, please send an email to zeroemissionroadfreight@cp.catapult.org.uk.

Connected Places Catapult is looking forward to continuing on this exciting journey towards a cleaner future!

Countdown COP27 will gather experts to provide practical ideas to help you move faster. The 2nd annual Sustainability Week: Countdown to COP27 aims to prepare you for the event, refine your sustainability strategy, getting you ahead of your competition to become sustainable, and faster. Economist Impact offers an independent guide to sustainability, will help you cut through the topic noise, evaluate other organisations’ climate change commitments and set your strategy for 2023.

Connected Places Catapult is pleased to become a partner of Economist Impact Events’ 2nd annual Sustainability Week: Countdown to COP27.

Join us and other 8,000+ attendees online and 500+ in London to ensure you are part of the sustainable future. Hear more from our experts on the panel on ‘Governments Pledge, Cities Deliver’ on 3 October at 4.35pm.

The appetite for investing in net zero projects is there. The mechanisms to enable these investment flows is what is still missing. The UK is pioneering a new approach to stimulate collaboration between city leaders and urban investors to enable investment flows and support the transition to net zero. How can this model be replicated internationally? How can collaboration between local and national government, industry and financial institutions be ensured? What are the best ways to innovate in financial models, along with testing and deploying them to secure investment?

Use our discount code CPC/S15 to book your delegate pass.

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This article features in the first edition of Connected Places magazine.

The Wright brothers took to the air in 1903, and since that moment flight has been engrained in our consciousness. Aircraft have advanced decade by decade. However, our experiences of flight – the routes aircraft take through our airspace and the transfers to and from points of departure – have broadly remained the same.

But the next age of flight won’t look anything like this. Billions of dollars have been invested across a spectrum of aerospace technologies that will change how we travel and move freight by air forever. At its heart, aviation is about connecting people and places – whether human beings or freight – above the world’s surface. The global pandemic reinforced two profound truths. Firstly, people desperately missed seeing each other face to face. Secondly, COVID-19 grounded aircraft in huge numbers and brought about a realisation that skies devoid of noisy, polluting airliners are in fact desirable.

So what is the way forward? What if we could pursue humanity’s dream of flight and need for connection in a way that radically reduces its impacts on our planet?

To reach net zero by 2050, zero-carbon-emission aircraft will need to be in service by 2035. For that to become a reality, the UK will need airports, ground services, infrastructure and a regulatory framework capable of supporting this: a mixed economy of electric- and hydrogen-powered aircraft alongside others fuelled by (for the time being) kerosene, jet fuels and Sustainable Aviation Fuels (SAFs). That’s the foundation for the future of flight that Connected Places Catapult identifies in the Department for Transport-commissioned Blueprint for Zero Emissions Flight Infrastructure (ZEFI).

The infrastructure upgrades proposed will require major international airports and regional airfields alike to operate during a complex cross-over period, with aircraft and technologies of differing maturities and legacy buildings and infrastructure functioning while new facilities are constructed.

These are significant challenges, for sure and concerted effort and combined expertise from governments, academia, innovators, manufacturers and carriers are required. However, these efforts herald economic opportunity for the UK, the Aerospace Technology Institute contends.

Some estimates forecast an uplift in civil aviation market share from 12% today to 19% by 2050 and increasing the sector’s gross value added to the economy from £11 billion to £36 billion and the number of aerospace jobs from 116,000 to 154,000.

Reimagined Flight

Cue the era of battery-powered and hybrid-electric demonstrator aircraft, hydrogen propulsion systems and electric vertical take-off and landing vehicles (eVTOL). This new generation of aircraft will fly autonomously thanks to modern, digitised air traffic systems managed without a human in the link. Uncrewed drones will zip around our airspace delivering life-saving medical supplies to hospitals – perhaps even the latest gadget to your doorstep or last-mile delivery agent – while fare-paying passengers take off from and land at a network of new drone- and vertiports.

Such exciting developments are no longer persistently just out of reach over the horizon. Many are here already, as a burgeoning new industry evolves. Indeed, we already have operational cargo drones and quadcopter demonstrators.

That the technology can get there is a given. The stumbling blocks they face, then, are of a different nature to finance. Public perception remains a major hurdle. As is providing the necessary infrastructure to enable new types of vehicle to land, refuel, load and unload passengers and freight and to navigate the skies above us. All this must develop in a concerted and co-ordinated way if we are to experience such a radical transformation in our lifetime.

The green agenda is a major driver. Carriers such as easyJet, whose CEO Johan Lundgren is vocal on the subject, are increasingly under pressure, particularly from a generation of younger customers, committed to an environmental perspective, to clean and green their operations.

u0026quot;To reach net zero by 2050, zero-carbon-emission aircraft will need to be in service by 2035u0026quot;

While aviation today only makes up some 2–3% of carbon emissions, it also creates other nuisances such as noise, contrails and NO2emissions – issues that must also be addressed. Additionally, aviation is projected to grow significantly. If other significant emitters such as housing, road transport and electricity meet their reduction targets, the sector could find itself an outsized contributor to UK emissions.

It is widely acknowledged that aviation cannot decarbonise overnight. For now, the use of SAFs and carbon offsetting via systems of credits will allow the sector to start doing its bit. Smaller initiatives, such as reducing single-use plastics, replacing diesel-fuelled ground tugs with electric vehicles and improved recycling, will turn micro improvements into compound benefits. In the medium-term, batteries are becoming more viable, thanks to developments in the car industry. Soon we will see short-hop transport – small aircraft, and up to four passengers in flying taxis – take-off with electric powerplants.

Further out, hydrogen propulsion systems may hold the answer to medium-range air travel. Long-haul travel such as flying from London to New York is unlikely, any day soon, to switch away from traditional jet fuel. The energy density required is just too high.

So what are the technologies that are going to appear in our skies and how will they interface with our cities and modalities?

Drones

Despite their futuristic appearance and reputation, drones have a century-old history, dating back to World War I and the inter-war years. So properly speaking, drones are an innovation rather than an invention – a redeploying and updating of existing technology.

Today’s proliferating drones have a wide range of applications, including: monitoring climate change, post-disaster surveillance, search and rescue, delivery of time-sensitive medical supplies to and from remote locations; ship-to-shore deliveries and small-scale commercial cargo delivery.

And these possibilities are just the start. Advisory firm PwC predicts that by 2030 drones could contribute a £42 billion uplift to the UK economy, bringing £16 billion in cost savings, with 76,000 drones operating in our skies (a third of them in the public sector) and 628,000 jobs in the ‘drone sector’. PwC has further estimated the global drone industry’s worth at £127 billion.

When it comes to commercial cargo, manufacturers and operators (sometimes one and the same) compete around factors such as payload, flight speed and range. In this market, distributors like DHL and UPS sit alongside aircraft manufacturers like Airbus.

Increasingly, the action and interest lies around the bigger craft, such as Pipistrel’s heavy cargo vertical take-off and landing (VTOL). Pipistrel, which is based in Slovenia and Italy, has been hailed as one of the frontrunners in electric aviation, having created a light two-seater aeroplane, and is now to be acquired by Textron, home of traditional aircraft brands Cessna, Beechcraft and Bell.

Drone and Vertiports

Air taxis and airborne passenger craft need somewhere to take off and land as well as charging and ground facilities. If advanced air mobility is to reach that wider public (as opposed to merely providing a more sustainable alternative to the helicopters of the super-rich) it will need a network of accessible ports or stations that interface with local transport points.

A business model that seems to deliver an answer has been dubbed ‘drones as a service’ or ‘infrastructure as a service’.

Urban Airport Ltd, for instance, has developed a compact and modular take-off and landing facility – a hub designed to integrate with other transport infrastructures – that can be set up on land or sea and even in a disaster zone. Urban Airport is due to open its first vertiport in Coventry this spring.

Traffic Management

PwC suggests that drone deliveries could be business as usual by 2030. Connected Places Catapult this year published a Droneport Design & Development Framework to address the planning, development and operational considerations of what are essentially mini-airports, with similar zoning, cargo, access, maintenance and safety considerations.

Furthermore, optimising the inspection potential of drones, automating and amplifying productivity across industrial sectors requires unified work in the field of Uncrewed Traffic Management (UTM) if drones and uncrewed vehicles are to operate safely and optimally in or alongside congested airspace. As the Connected Places Catapult Droneport Framework contends: the aviation community must rally around a common vision for success. With UTM, the aviation industry can collaboratively deliver safer drone operations in different sectors and assure routine operations.

CPC has initiated an Open Access UTM concept to encourage actors in this space to collaborate in a co-ordinated approach. Challenges remain. It is not clear how this broader airspace ecosystem would be commercialised, for instance, and there are technological complexities. However, automation is a key enabler for a future UTM system and government and industry commitment to maintaining a safe and viable national airspace is strong.

Air Taxis

An emerging business model for small passenger aircraft or air taxis posits a four-person or five-person craft for one pilot and their passengers. As public acceptance of their viability and safety grows, the craft will be uncrewed, costs will decrease and revenues increase as services scale up.

For mass manufacturers of existing air vehicles, such as Airbus, the challenge is about creating a new market, new demand and innovation, as the airframer’s Head of urban air mobility strategy, Balkiz Sarihan, explains.

“Having started with the Vahana fixed wing demonstrator developed in the company’s A-cubed incubator in the United States, Airbus has created CityAirbus, a 2.3-ton multicopter vehicle which can fly four passengers and can fully hover. The idea is for an efficient air transport service between strategic locations in urban and suburban environments, moving commuting into the skies in a sustainable way – both in terms of emissions and low noise. This has morphed into the CityAirbus NextGen eVTOL, with electric motors, which will have an 80 km range and cruise speed of 120 kmph.”

In the UK, Vertical Aerospace, founded by green entrepreneur Stephen Fitzpatrick, has taken a partnership approach, working with Honeywell on avionics and Rolls-Royce around electric propulsion. Other partners include Microsoft, Avolon and carriers American Airlines and Virgin Atlantic. The VX quadcopter will be quieter, safer and more cost-efficient than helicopters, Fitzpatrick contends, part of a flight technology ecosystem that opens AAM to a wider public.

In 2019, vertiport developer and operator Skyports and German air taxi firm Volocopter demonstrated how an advanced air mobility ecosystem could work with the unveiling of their Voloport in Marina Bay, Singapore. Voloport provides passenger facilities and charging points and could be operational by 2023–24. The vision is for a network of vertiports to service urban centres. As Duncan Walker, CEO of Skyports, explains, aircraft certification is the driver in this. “Vehicles are being tested and certified to a very high threshold. The next 24 months will be crucial on that front, and certification will trigger air taxi operations.”

Another Skyport initiative will see a vertiport opening in Paris in time for the 2024 Olympic Games, designed, built and operated by Skyports and situated at Groupe ADP’s Cergy-Pontoise airfield.

Meanwhile, airport operator Ferrovial plans to establish a network of 25 vertiports at UK airports. Supernal, formerly the urban air mobility division of Hyundai Motor Group, is investing in Urban-Airport to support its vertiport development plans.

These eVTOL technologies hold huge potential for cities and places, says David Hyde, lead on aerospace net zero at the World Economic Forum. But they need to be implemented in a way that works for cities. “Local policymakers will need to ensure congestion doesn’t simply shift from the road to the skies and that all communities have an opportunity to benefit,” he says.

Bigger Craft

Sustainable options for regional aircraft for inter- and intra-city hops could also soon become a reality. Colin Sach, founder of Sach Aviation, a financing advisory firm, says that existing but less used airports could be the first sector to go entirely green. Electric craft lead the way currently, but hydrogen or hybrid hydrogen-electric propulsion for craft of 50-60 seats and a range of around 300 miles are more viable as the technology matures. The next big step will be an operational one, Sach says, and is likely to require public funding, pointing to a number of routes in Scotland, such as Glasgow to Campbelltown and from the mainland to the islands, that receive capital grants to support small-scale air transfers.

The ATI says the optimum route to decarbonising aviation will come via acceleration of a large narrowbody and mid-sized commercial aircraft into service. It argues this would be less commercially risky than developing a narrowbody equivalent to a Boeing 737 because it would allow infrastructure development to be focused on fewer but larger hub airports. Once established, the solution could be rolled out to smaller airports.

Innovation firm ZeroAvia has already flown a hydrogen-powered Piper light aircraft out of Cranfield Airport in England. Founded in California, ZeroAvia now has the rump of its business in the UK adapting existing aircraft with new propulsion systems using a hydrogen cell and chemical process to turn gas into electricity as it seeks to provide commercial fl ights by the middle of this decade. As part of the government’s ZEFI programme, the Catapult has been supporting ZeroAvia (see article on ZEFI).

Airbus, meanwhile, is looking to hydrogen combustion akin to a traditional jet engine and has announced plans to test an engine with this on a converted A380 jetliner. With companies large and small pushing the envelope on the potential for hydrogen, this technology is widely touted as the most likely route for decarbonisation of larger aircraft in the near-term.

The Future for Long Haul

There is, however, a longer game to be played out for large-scale aircraft and long-haul fl ights. Entirely green technology does not meet the need of long-haul currently and development is still some way off . For the time being, SAFs will continue to play a role. Proposals from the European Commission from last year would see carriers blending a minimum of 2% of SAFs into their kerosene from 2025. That would rise to 5% in 2030 and 63% by 2050. Investment in SAFs is ongoing, however. In March, the UK government announced that Saudi Arabia’s Alfanar Group is expected to confirm a £1 billion investment to produce SAFs in Teesside, an initiative that would make it the first company to produce sustainable fuel from waste at scale in the UK – a welcome advance.

In the meantime, gains in fuel and aircraft efficiency should not be overlooked.

u0026quot;Aircraft become 1-2% more efficient each year,u0026quot; says Sach, u0026quot;and efficiency is a huge driver given that fuel represents around 25% of a carrier’s costs.u0026quot;

Electric versus Hydrogen

Hydrogen remains the power of choice for zero-carbon emission aircraft, even if the challenges are steep, as Robert Thomson, a partner at consultancy Roland Berger and a former Rolls-Royce aerospace engineer, suggests. Liquified hydrogen must be cooled and stored on board safely. Hydrogen-powered fl ight will also require a system to take the fuel out of the tanks, convert it back to gas and deliver it to the engines.

The modification of the engines is comparatively straightforward, says Thomson. However, modifying the aircraft is complex and one issue is space. “The energy density per unit weight of hydrogen is three times that of jet fuel, so you need three times as much space on an aircraft to store it.”

An ambitious aircraft research programme is needed on technologies such as cryogenic hydrogen fuel systems, gas turbines and airframes for ground and airborne demonstration. Meanwhile, sustainable aviation fuel technology must also be advanced for the world will need both to achieve the net zero 2050 target.

On the Horizon – The Next 30 Years

While key technology and regulatory issues are still to be resolved, we will nevertheless reach significant milestones in the next 30 years – some of them close now to being realised.

On the vehicle certification and regulatory side, public aviation authorities such as the CAA and FAA are working hard to set standards that will help foster public confidence and acceptance, particularly for unpiloted flight.

In March, the pair agreed to work jointly to support the future of eVTOLs and other AAM aircraft to significantly benefit the public. A range of bilateral and multilateral discussions focused on certification and validation are to follow, with an emphasis on the high safety standards the public expects.

Changes on the ground – interfaces with existing transport networks and greener airports – are subject to wider planning and public policy initiatives. But the drive for green aviation is not in doubt.

Air taxis and eVTOLs will, say their operators, become operational in the near term. According to Roland Berger’s Thomson, we may see 15–20 seat all-electric aircraft coming to the market in the later part of this decade, opening up short routes such as London to Paris to green flight. By the mid-2030s, the introduction of hydrogen aircraft with 60–80 seats looks viable, he goes on. Later in the 2030s, we may see 150-plus seaters beginning to enter service and starting to replace conventional aircraft.

Alongside that, we’ll see a continued drive to improve aircraft efficiency and a remodelled, reimagined transport infrastructure on the ground that interfaces with the diff erent modalities and their payloads, greens the transfers for humans and freight to and from their departure points and locates or even generates green fuels on site at airports and other transportation hubs.

The desired outcome isn’t in question: that future generations will enjoy quieter streets and skies, commute from city to city via emission-free aircraft powered by green propulsion and that populations in remote locations will see improved access to medical services, education, work and leisure opportunities.

Undoubtedly, there are technological challenges ahead and a co-ordinated approach to infrastructure, regulation and certification is needed. But it’s clear from the innovations and their achievements to date that the third generation of flight is coming into view.

This article features in the first edition of Connected Places magazine.

So attention has now turned to the maritime transportation sector, hence the discussions around this important sector at COP26 and beyond due to our increasing appetite for consumer goods, foodstuffs and produce from around the world.

To date the government has formed a strategy to a) reduce emissions within the maritime sector and b) at the same time convert our ports into areas of ‘green opportunity’ as hubs that produce energy for the wider economy.

Challenges – How can we reduce these emissions within the maritime sector?

Governments, academia, and ecological bodies have come together to form a strategy of action to reduce carbon dioxide globally.

The International Maritime Organisation (IMO) has set a target to halve 2008 emission levels by 2050.

The strategies in place to reduce these emission levels are through:

• increasing electrification of ports and port handling processes, and
• the adoption of future fuels for example LNG (liquified natural gas), hydrogen or ammonia

Globally we all need to ‘come together as one’ to decarbonise shipping and ports, thus ensuring we meet our target for maritime CO₂ reduction.

The UK leading the way

The United Kingdom is ideally positioned to lead the way in maritime carbon and CO2 reduction. Due to the UK being the home of the IMO, having direct access to regulators and the other bodies listed above. Though we must not forget the United Kingdom has always been a pioneering and seafaring nation when it comes to shipping. This has stemmed from the pioneering days of the seventeenth century exploration, the creation of the commonwealth and through to the present.

The United Kingdom – An opportunity to take the lead

There are over 100 ports are operating around the UK that process over 95% of UK trade. Thus, the time is right now for us to take the lead and lead by example in decarbonising our ports. ‘First mover’ opportunities within this sector allow us to build a significant competitive advantage.

For example:

• The governments ‘Build Back Better’ strategy places the UK in the ideal position for our Ports to be among one of the first countries in the G20 to achieve net-zero.
• The use of offshore wind farms to generate ‘clean energy’ in turn to supply the local logistics and warehousing sector with electricity.

Strategies & Enablers – reducing the carbon footprint within our ports

Ports are a complex mix of internal processes and wider stakeholder interactions that present significant challenges and opportunities in terms of reaching our national net-zero targets. Today our ports incorporate a broad range of infrastructure ranging from dockside facilities built in the Victorian era to highly automated cargo processing equipment. Therefore, what is the upshot and what is needed to achieve net-zero within our ports? Here are a few examples:

• Adoption of ‘clean fuels’ e.g., Liquified Natural Gas (LNG) or Hydrogen. It has been noted that a green hydrogen industry could generate £320bn for the UK economy by 2050 and would support over 120,000 jobs within Freeports nationally.
• Offshore renewable energy – the UK has the largest installed offshore wind capacity in Europe. This creates significant opportunity for our ports in the wind supply chain, for example, manufacturing, maintenance, and servicing. Plus, the added benefit of supplying energy to connected stakeholders (warehousing and logistics hubs).
• IT (Information Technology) integration and ‘The Cloud’ – streamlining goods handling processes and reducing the number of goods movements within the port, saving time and energy consumed by loaders, forklift trucks and Heavy Goods Vehicles (HGVs)

Ports as Green Energy Hubs – some examples

1. Shell is developing a hydrogen hub through the Port of Rotterdam and the Hollandse Kust windfarm. Aiming to start production in 2023 it is expected to produce up to 60,000kg of hydrogen daily. This would in turn fuel 2,300 hydrogen-powered goods vehicles per day.
2. The Port of Amsterdam is also involved in a green hydrogen project with Tata Steel and Nouryon, with the aim to create a 100MW hydrogen plant using energy generated by offshore wind.
3. The Port of Aberdeen, Scotland is an accredited EcoPort and is playing a leading role in the region’s transition to a hydrogen economy, through the creation of an Energy Transition Zone. The Port of Aberdeen ETZ has primarily focused on renewables and their links to the wider transport network including hydrogen-fuelled buses and heavy goods vehicle fleets.

Find out more

This article is a summary of a full feature article which you can read in our Net Zero Places Innovation Brief.

The purpose of this Request for Information (RFI) is to provide potential suppliers with an overview of the challenge and seek responses that explain the capabilities of products and solutions available in the marketplace, or near-market prototypes. A variety of potential solutions are sought to this challenge, and there is no presumption that respondents will have previous experience operating in a rail, freight or logistics area. Given the complexity of this challenge, it is anticipated that individual suppliers might not be able to address every aspect of the solution and would need to work with partners for any development activity that follows. If this is the case, please include this information in your response, such as information on your organisation’s strengths and the partner capabilities you might seek.

This request for information is purely for the purposes of creating a clear understanding of possible solutions, their capabilities and technical readiness. This information will be used to inform future development opportunities.

Please respond by completing the template attached with this notice. Closing date for this opportunity is 22nd of October 2021.

If you have questions relating to this request for information, please send them to railfreightestates@cp.catapult.org.uk

Introduction

In order to address the challenge of climate change, the UK Government became the first major economy to pass laws to end its contribution to global warming and bring all greenhouse gas emissions to net zero by 2050.  While substantial progress has been made to reduce total carbon emissions in the UK, transport emissions have remained broadly flat over the last 30 years. To address this, the Government recently published its Transport Decarbonisation Plan – the first such plan in the world – which sets out their plans to deliver a net zero transport system by 2050.

On average, rail freight trains currently emit a quarter of the CO2 emissions of HGVs per tonne km travelled. Due to this, Government supports and incentivises the modal shift of freight from road to rail to reduce carbon emissions from across the freight sector.  However, rail freight itself will also need to decarbonise to help reach the UK government’s target of net zero carbon emissions by 2050. While the decarbonisation of trains is already being addressed by Government and industry, what more can be done to decarbonise freight terminal operations?

Why should you respond?

Your responses will help to inform us of potential technology directions and innovation spaces. In turn we can use this to inform on where future technology support and possible CR&D activities could be focused to accelerate the deployment of lower-carbon approaches. Should this happen, your feedback into this process will enable us to signpost you to such opportunities.

What happens within a typical rail freight estate?

There are also two main classifications of freight goods: bulk products and intermodal containers. The former category can refer to aggregates, cement, scrap metals, grain, biomass or oil & petroleum, for example – the product is fundamentally a loose product. The second category, intermodal, refers to the transportation of goods in standardised ISO containers that facilitate transfer between road, rail and sea.

Some terminals have automated loading and unloading systems, some have diesel-powered lifting systems having limited movement within the terminal, while many rely on the use of non-road mobile machinery (NRMMs) which to date are typically diesel powered. What can be done to transition the industry away from diesel-powered equipment to lower carbon forms of product movement?

We need solutions for the loading, unloading and movement of goods within the rail freight estate in a way which supports a pathway to net-zero

Goods need to be moved on and off trains. How can this be achieved in a way which emits lower and ideally zero carbon emissions? In this challenge, we are interested in learning about any potential innovative solutions that could support the industry in achieving lower carbon emissions.

There is no strict boundary to this challenge. This request for information is seeking to understand the landscape for technology or potential developments which will solve the broad challenge of emissions generated from the operations within a rail freight terminal.

Do you have technologies, ideas or business models which could support a pathway towards zero-carbon emission operations within a rail freight terminal? This could include

• equipment used within the rail freight terminal for loading and unloading of goods to/from trains
• movement of goods within the rail freight terminal
• equipment used within the rail freight terminal for loading and unloading to/from the next transport mode in the journey such as HGVs.
• design aspects of rail freight wagons which facilitate lower-carbon handling of goods through the terminal

While the scope for ideas within the terminal operations is broad, the following specific areas are considered out of scope:

• Heating and lighting within buildings on site
• The rolling stock locomotives
• Road vehicles which enter and leave the rail freight terminal not belonging to or directly operated by or on behalf of the terminal

If you have questions relating to this request for information, please send them to railfreightestates@cp.catapult.org.uk

Link to the Low Carbon Freight Estate project privacy notice.