Military aircraft should become net-zero a decade earlier than planned, says Chief of Air Staff

Military aircraft fleet should become net-zero a decade earlier than planned, the Chief of the Air Staff has said.

While Defence, which accounts for 50 per cent of the UK central government’s emissions, has pledged to work towards its legal commitment of net-zero by 2050, Air Chief Marshal Sir Mike Wigston has called on the Royal Air Force to meet the target 10 years earlier.

During a recent visit to Washington, Sir Mike said: “I recognise that sounds crazy to some, that we’ve got an Air Force Chief talking about being net-zero, but I think the imperative is clear: our politicians will demand it of us, are demanding of us. Our public demands it of us. And the young people in the Royal Air Force today demand it of me and the leadership, that we should be taking a lead in this.”

Sir Mike said he had a “hunch” that as the climate crisis worsens, the target for net-zero will be brought forward.

“That will require additional investment,” he told Defense News. “It will require me diverting investment from equipment and platforms into infrastructure and into how we operate.”

He added the target will only be met if other countries and leaders in industry are on board, and that “the way we power our aircraft, the way we power our bases, the way we talk to our supply chain, [to] our industrial suppliers about their carbon and sustainable practices, are all going to be things that are important for all Air Forces”.

Earlier this year Jens Stoltenberg, the head of Nato, said the military must cut its emissions, and that Nato, of which the UK is a member, "needs to step up and play a bigger role in combating it – including by reducing military emissions".

Ben Wallace, the Defence Secretary, announced in December last year that algae, alcohol and household waste would power RAF fighter jets to cut carbon emissions.

The army also has plans to create electric tanks and provide vegetarian options in the mess as just some of the ways it plans to go greener. Its first ever training base powered by the sun is also to be constructed at the Defence School of Transport (DST) in Normandy Barracks, Leconfield.