Sustainability

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We develop and deliver complex power and propulsion solutions for safety-critical applications in the air, at sea and on land.

Our products and service packages enable our customers to connect people, societies, cultures and economies together.

We develop and deliver complex power and propulsion solutions.

For more than 100 years we have been at the forefront of innovation. Helping to power, protect and connect the modern world.

Create your future with us

Help us deliver better power for our changing world.

Doing more with less

We have a fundamental role in meeting the environmental and societal opportunities and challenges that the world faces.

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Rolls-Royce announced Half Year results on Thursday 1 August 2024.

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Our Civil Aerospace engines already surpass all environmental legislation for noise and emissions, can fly on blended Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) and are up to 98% recyclable under our Revert programme.

But we haven’t done this alone – we also work with industry partners, regulatory authorities, fuel producers and governments to achieve our goals. Our commitment to both technology and teamwork is our contribution to transforming the way we travel.

ALECSys flight testing on our Boeing 747 Flying Test Bed

We have already proven that all our Trent and Business Aviation commercial aero engine types are compatible with 100% SAF.

We have pledged to achieve net zero carbon in our operations by 2030 and play a crucial role in enabling the sectors in which we operate reach net zero by 2050.

Our new products will be compatible with net zero operation by 2030 and all our products will be compatible with net zero by 2050, in line with our UN Race to Zero commitment.

Our commitments

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Our commitments

For decades we have continuously dedicated ourselves to improving the efficiency of our engines, taking each working part and making it better, shaving fractions of a percent off the amount of fuel burnt.

The UltraFan technology demonstrator at Testbed 80, Derby, UK

The cumulative effect of that effort has led to big improvements, for example the modern Trent XWB is 15% more efficient than the first Trent that entered service. That efficiency also means reduced emissions and greater sustainability.

That journey continues today. We have now completed the very first test on our UltraFan^® demonstrator engine at our new Testbed 80 facility in Derby, UK. That engine will offer a 25% fuel burn improvement on the first Trent, the result of continued research into new materials, technology and design. At aircraft level, there is also the opportunity to further improve the integration of gas turbines into new aircraft designs for even greater efficiency.

For long-haul travel, gas turbines will remain the only way to transport large numbers of people at speed for years to come. There is no other technology that can deliver the required energy in compact form. That is why, working with our industrial and governmental partners, we are committed to constant and continual gas turbine improvement.

We recognise the incredible possibilities of 100% Sustainable Aviation Fuels as ‘drop-in’ solutions, whether they are created from organic materials or synthetically. We also recognise the challenges in making them a reality in our industry.

100% SAF testing on our Business Aviation engines

Our commitment is to do everything we can to make 100% SAF introduction possible in engineering terms, and in addition actively work with fuel producers, governments and industry authorities to promote a ramp-up in fuel production.

We have already carried out tests on the ground and in the air on our Trent and Pearl engines, and the very first run of UltraFan was completed using 100% SAF. We have found no barriers to its use in our engines. At the end of 2023 we were delighted to announce that we achieved our goal of proving, through testing, that all our in-production Civil Large and Business Aviation aero engines are compatible with 100% SAF.

In terms of making the fuel to scale, and making it economically viable, we know we cannot do this alone. We are actively supporting efforts to bring the aviation sector, fuel industry, governments and industry bodies together to break through those barriers. Each 100% SAF engine test we do enables us to work ever more closely with global fuel providers, aircraft manufacturers and regulatory authorities and understand their issues.

Our work extends beyond aircraft propulsion – our Small Modular Reactor technology could offer a low-carbon energy solution to the production of synthetic SAF fuels.

We are at the forefront of research and development into new technologies and embracing the potential of alternatives such as electrification and hydrogen.

Partnering with easyJet to ground test hydrogen on a modified AE2100 engine

We are at the forefront of research and development into new technologies and embracing the potential of alternatives such as electrification and hydrogen.

Our electrification work, ranges from kilowatt to megawatt power and includes hybrid electric with the potential to provide both propulsion system efficiency as well as aircraft power usage efficiency improvements through integration with the aircraft platform. We have a hands-on approach of learning through doing, working with a variety of industry partners and stakeholders.

We have successfully tested our 2.5MW Power Generation System 1 (PGS1), in Bristol, UK, which is capable of providing future hybrid-electrical propulsion. It also has the potential to integrate into a “more electric” propulsion and power system for larger aircraft.

We have also launched a Hydrogen technology demonstrator programme in partnership with easyJet which aims to develop and test hydrogen combustion engine technology capable of powering a range of aircraft, including those in the narrow-body segment. The programme includes a number of rig tests for key technology building blocks and whole engine tests on AE and Pearl engines. We have a shared ambition to flight test this technology.

And we are participating in a number of new UK and European funded programmes to further research and develop hydrogen and hybrid-electric technology for aviation. You can find out more here: Teamwork to test if the hydrogen dream works and One step closer to climate-neutral aviation.

Sustainability in Manufacturing and Services

Our sustainability work extends beyond the development of existing and future products and the fuels they use. We are also pioneering new ways of servicing engines that reduce time and transportation, that in turn increase sustainability. For example, new digital techniques and robotics can examine engines to confirm they are fit to fly, avoiding the need to transport engines hundreds of miles to be stripped and examined.

New 3D-printing manufacturing techniques allow new, more complex parts to be built up with no need to recut materials, avoiding waste. In addition, they also help to improve the environmental performance of our engines. Our new Pearl 10X engine is taking it to the next level – using Additive Layer Manufacturing (ALM) to print combustor tiles with integrated cooling holes.

These holes, remarkably, turn back on themselves in a loop and wouldn’t be possible using laser drilling methods. The outcome? A hotter, “purer”, fuel burn and therefore lower emissions.

And when testing new engine designs, our digital capabilities can increasingly predict component performance, reducing the number of tests and also the requirement to manufacture a variety of iterations of the same part.

And at the end of their useful life, which can be for decades of service covering millions of miles, our engines have a very high level of recyclability.

Commitment to SAFs

Over a decade ago the aviation industry was the first global sector to set ambitious emission reduction goals. In 2023, we came together again to support the industry’s commitment to achieving net zero carbon emissions for civil aviation by 2050 and to highlight the importance of the production, distribution, and availability of qualified Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) needed to achieve this goal.

You can read our joint statement here.