Net Zero Festival: Prepping net zero flight for take-off

BusinessGreen staff
clock • 1 min read

VIDEO: Host Robert Llewellyn quizzes Heathrow CEO John Holland-Kaye, Velocys CEO Henrik Wareborn, ZeroAvia CEO Val Miftakhov and Rolls-Royce's Paul Stein about the chances of developing commercially-viable zero carbon flight

The UK government has recently set an ambition to develop zero emission aircraft in the UK by 2030, but how realistic is that goal? Can the global aviation industry ever truly operate without fossil fuels and shift to zero emissions fuels and technologies?

Drilling down into these issues in more depth at BusinessGreen's recent Net Zero Festival, host Robert Llewellyn - actor and Fully Charged presenter - spoke to figures at several companies at the forefront of developing zero emission flight: Heathrow CEO John Holland-Kaye; Henrik Wareborn, CEO and executive director of aviation biofuels specialist Velocys; chief technology officer at Rolls-Royce, Paul Stein; and Val Miftakhov, founder and CEO of hydrogen fuel cell plane developer ZeroAvia.

The discussion - which touches on the challenges, opportunities, investment and policies associated with green aviation - is available to watch again in full above.

All of the panel debates, keynote speeches, and presentations from the world's first Net Zero Festival - which took place over three days from 30 September featuring hundreds of top speakers from business, politics and academia - are now available to watch again on demand through the Net Zero Festival website.

Heathrow is a partner of the Net Zero Festival.

More on Aviation

For UK airports, existing infrastructure will define climate resilience

For UK airports, existing infrastructure will define climate resilience

As climate change intensifies airports urgently need to invest in resilience - but key the question is where to intervene first, and how to do it without taking critical infrastructure offline, writes Amy Dickinson from Egis

Amy Dickinson, Egis
clock 16 September 2026 • 3 min read
Climate Change Committee: Heathrow expansion 'not currently compatible' with net zero targets

Climate Change Committee: Heathrow expansion 'not currently compatible' with net zero targets

Independent climate advisory body warns government current policies offer 'no credible pathway' to reaching net zero aviation emissions, with or without a third Heathrow runway

Michael Holder
clock 16 September 2026 • 11 min read
Friends of the Earth warn Heathrow's third runway would 'blow a hole' in UK's legal climate targets

Friends of the Earth warn Heathrow's third runway would 'blow a hole' in UK's legal climate targets

New analysis warns controversial airport expansion plans would exceed carbon budgets, as campaigners urge government to reject proposals

clock 03 September 2026 • 5 min read