Sugar-based aviation crucial for net-zero push, says NI FFA

UK sugar beet growers could help mitigate climate change and obesity if the aviation industry switches to biofuels, including ethanol produced from sugar, a Northern Ireland-based campaign group has claimed.

NI Farmers For Action (FFA) suggests that “all the ducks are now in a row” for the global aviation industry to move towards so-called sustainable aviation fuel, including products made from sugar, at a much bigger scale.

Its co-ordinator, William Taylor, said if global sugar supply was diverted into biofuel, that sugar would not be available for use in junk food and drinks and it would help reduce obesity, dental decay and other diseases linked to sugar consumption.

See also: UK wheat demand hit by limited access to EU biofuels market

“Sugar was not available during the Second World War due to ships being sunk in the Atlantic and it was recently quoted that just after the war people were the healthiest they have ever been in history,” said Mr Taylor.

Although there is concern that such a move would result in higher food prices, Mr Taylor disputed this.

Agriculture, he added, is “quite capable” of producing biofuels, such as rapeseed and sunflower oils, to power agricultural vehicles and other diesel engines while sugar can be converted into ethanol – in Brazil it is widely used to power cars that would otherwise run on petrol.

Displacing fossil fuels with these products would not only be good for climate change mitigation, but secure better commodity prices for farmers, said Mr Taylor.

He is urging the UK government to lead on this at COP29, and the Northern Ireland Executive through its Farm Welfare Bill, which is currently at the committee stage at Stormont.

“In short, pay farmers properly and we can deliver the food and the fuel and put the brakes on accelerated climate change,” said Mr Taylor.

“Farmers are fed up with being blamed for climate change and receiving poor farmgate prices, it is the first time we have been able to confront governments with a solution.’’

British Sugar declined to comment.

NI FFA has requested a meeting with the secretary of state for energy security and net zero, Ed Miliband, ahead of COP29.