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

Government announces £7.3m funding boost for zero emission aviation firms

Government announces £7.3m funding boost for zero emission aviation firms

Series of innovative projects secure funding to support development of infrastructure to enable zero emission flights from UK airports

James Murray
clock 23 July 2026 • 2 min read
Loganair inks order for five electric planes from Beta Technologies

Loganair inks order for five electric planes from Beta Technologies

Electric aircraft set to take flight from 2029, making Loganair the first commercial operator in Europe to offer electric routes

clock 22 July 2026 • 3 min read
Vertical Aerospace explores potential UK factory sites for its electric air taxis

Vertical Aerospace explores potential UK factory sites for its electric air taxis

Aviation start-up in 'advanced discussions' for £10m in government funding, alongside 'broad package of support' to help kick start production of its electric aircraft in the UK

clock 22 July 2026 • 2 min read