Climate Changemakers: NEG8 Carbon Working to Slash the Carbon Emissions of Flying
13 December 2025
Sustainable Aviation Fuel Using CO₂ Captured by Direct Air Capture
[This article appeared in The Irish Indepedent.]
The environmental impact of flying could be slashed within a couple of decades. This is a key aim of NEG8 Carbon, a company based in Co Waterford that develops economically viable and scalable Direct Air Capture (DAC) systems which can be used to produce Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF).
DAC is a technology that extracts carbon dioxide (CO₂) from the air. The extracted CO₂ is then either permanently stored underground or reused for practical purposes. NEG8 Carbon’s DAC system works by using fans to draw in large quantities of air and passing it through a low-cost CO₂ extraction system. This captured CO₂ is then used for eSAF and other synthetic fuel production.
Aviation currently accounts for around 2.5pc of global CO₂ emissions. However, its overall contribution to climate change is higher because, in addition to emitting CO₂ from burning fuel, aircraft contrails – water vapour from plane exhausts – affect the overall concentration of other atmospheric gases and pollutants. Recent studies estimate that aviation has accounted for around 4pc of the world’s temperature rise since pre-industrial times.
Decarbonising aviation is a critical step in mitigating the industry’s overall impact, and this is where DAC can play a key role, says Ray Naughton, Founder and Managing Director of NEG8.
“In the atmosphere, all around us, there are approximately 430 parts per million of CO₂ right now – and for climate stability, the traditional safe level of CO₂ is about 350 parts per million. If nothing is done, we are projected to go to above 550 parts per million by the end of this century. There is a direct correlation between the concentration of CO₂ in the atmosphere and the speed of climate change. Every 100 part per million increase in CO₂ equates to a one degree rise in temperature.
“What our technology does is, it takes in a large quantity of air, extracts the CO₂ from it, and releases air that is free from CO₂ out the other side. We then take the extracted CO₂ – and, in the case of eSAF, we combine it with hydrogen, which we get by simply splitting water molecules, which are H₂O: two parts hydrogen and one part water. This process creates a type of fuel that can be added to existing aviation fuel or can replace it. This creates a net-zero fuel, because we’re capturing CO₂ from the air, we’re making fuel from it, and when that fuel is burnt, we capture the CO₂ again. So what you end up with is a net-zero carbon reuse cycle that’s going on all the time.”
NEG8 Carbon recently signed a contract for the first phase of a major project in the UK to develop large-scale Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) production using a low-carbon energy source.
The project, known as Eq.flight, will be led by Equilibrion, a UK project developer and consultancy focused on using the potential of nuclear power – through small, advanced modular reactors – to boost cleaner energy production and mitigate climate change.
The new contract awarded to NEG8 paves the way for the economic production of eSAF at scale. As part of the Eq.flight project, the CO₂ provided via DAC will be combined with green hydrogen and nuclear-generated electricity to create eSAF in a specialised process. This eSAF is set to save over 90pc on carbon emissions compared to traditional jet fuel.
Naughton says:
“Every year, the concentration of eSAF in existing aviation fuel is growing. This year, the figure is 2pc – but there is an EU mandate for airlines to increase this to 70pc by 2050. So that’s what the airlines are trying to achieve – and that’s what will cause the environmental impact of flights to be significantly reduced.”
Naughton believes that this type of fuel could have applications that go beyond aviation, potentially being used to power ships or certain types of heavy goods vehicles (HGVs) that aren’t always suited to going electric because of the large loads they carry.
“If you look at what’s happening with transport in general, cars and small commercial vehicles are increasingly being electrified. Over time, you will see them becoming 100pc electric, as the use of fossil fuels for those vehicles is phased out. What you are left with are HGVs, aviation and the shipping industry. It’s very likely that the eSAF market would expand to include these types of vehicles.”
He adds that one of the great advantages of eFuels is that they are a “drop-in” fuel that can be used with the same engines that HGVs and other large vehicles already use. This makes eFuels a more accessible solution than hydrogen, another commonly cited alternative to fossil fuels, “which would require the creation of a whole new type of technology and a whole new supply chain to facilitate that technology – building on what’s already there is much more sustainable”.
Naughton is keen to emphasise that when it comes to flying, there are reasons to be hopeful.
“I speak to a lot of people who tell me they feel bad about flying, because of its current environmental impact,” he says, “but one thing I want people to know is that solutions do exist. We’re actively working on developing them.”