How Honeywell Sustains Earth Day All Year Long

Fifty-two years ago – on April 22, 1970 – Earth Day launched an environmental movement to raise awareness of the actions needed to take care of our planet.

Today, Honeywell stands at the forefront of creating innovative sustainability solutions that will make a difference for a greener aviation industry.

From new fuels and more efficient engines and APUs to sophisticated flight-routing analytics, Honeywell is taking noteworthy steps for carbon footprint reduction.

About 3% of carbon dioxide emissions come from aircraft now. But the environmental impact is forecasted to grow by as much as 50% in the next 20 years, with the number of passengers flying annually climbing to 10 billion by 2050.

That’s why more than 300 airlines have rallied around bold goals such as boosting fuel efficiency by 2% and achieving carbon neutrality by 2050.

Meeting those goals demands environmental game-changers, such as Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF). This low-carbon alternative to conventional, petroleum-based jet fuel is expected to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by as much as 80%.

Honeywell UOP’s groundbreaking SAF process using renewable feedstocks proved its potential late last year, when it powered the first passenger flight fueled completely by SAF on a United Airlines737 MAX 8 traveling from Chicago to Washington, D.C.

Now we’re adapting our propulsion engines on business aircraft and helicopters and the APUs found on most airlines worldwide so they can operate on SAF as a drop-in replacement for traditional fuels.

Currently, Honeywell APUs have been certified to run on a 50% SAF blend. We’re working to attain 100% SAF-level certification.

We’re making improvements to our engines and APUs that run on fossil fuel, so they consume less and reduce greenhouse gases. Our HGT1700 APU on the Airbus A350 uses 6-10% less fuel than comparable units.

The world’s most popular APU – our 131-9 – has been upgraded with a high efficiency mode that advances fuel efficiency by about 2%. That’s enough to cut carbon dioxide emissions by over 35 metric tons a year. And that’s per aircraft.

We’re seeing great potential in new technologies that will reduce aviation’s environmental impact. Among our focus areas are hydrogen fuel cells, which could replace multiple power generation systems on the aircraft, and hybrid electric power generation.

Thanks to Honeywell Forge Flight Efficiency, we’re also helping airlines efficiently use fuel by flying the quickest and most effective routes. It also tracks emissions to meet environmental reporting requirements.

Reflecting Earth Day’s ambition for a healthier planet for all of us, we’ve cut the intensity of our company’s greenhouse gas emissions by 90% since introducing our sustainability system in 2004.

Today about half of Honeywell’s research and development investments for new products is going to improve environmental, safety and social outcomes for our customers and our planet.

As we pledged a year ago, Honeywell is committed to achieving carbon-neutrality in our own operations and facilities by 2035, 15 years ahead of the Paris Agreement deadline established in 2015 for climate mitigation. This month, we committed to setting a target that extends to our Scope 3 emissions with the Science-Based Targets initiative.