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

'Terrible news for the climate': Gatwick to open second runway as government wins legal challenge

'Terrible news for the climate': Gatwick to open second runway as government wins legal challenge

Gatwick expansion leaves government with ‘serious questions to answer’ about how the decision fits with climate goals, campaigners claim

Stuart Stone
clock 05 August 2026 • 4 min read
BNEF: SAF prices have risen 10 per cent in the past year

BNEF: SAF prices have risen 10 per cent in the past year

SAF production reached 1.9 million metric tons in 2025, equivalent to 0.6 per cent of global jet fuel demand, study finds

Stuart Stone
clock 30 July 2026 • 6 min read
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