DUBAI, June 4 (Reuters) - Airlines and energy firms

clashed over scarce availability of alternative fuels on Tuesday

as carriers ended a three-day summit struggling to square

near-record demand with supply chain problems and pressure to

meet environmental goals.

The aviation industry has committed to reducing net

emissions to zero by 2050 largely through plant-based

Sustainable Aviation Fuels (SAF).

But with current supplies of SAF covering just 0.5% of the

airlines' fuel needs, disagreements surfaced during an annual

meeting of the International Air Transport Association, attended

by energy companies including France's TotalEnergies.

"Total's net earnings last year were $23.2 billion. The

whole airline industry's net earnings in 2023 were $27 billion,"

IATA Director General Willie Walsh said during a closing debate.

"The fuel companies who produce the problem ... we need to

see those companies like Total investing significant sums of

money in the development of Sustainable Aviation Fuel. That's

the reality of where we are."

The head of the French energy giant's aviation and marine

business defended its commitment to helping industries like

aviation, which has few immediate alternatives, meet its goals.

"Thank you for raising our excellent results," senior

vice-president Louise Tricoire, responded during lively

exchanges on stage in Dubai, adding that TotalEnergies

already re-invests the bulk of its profit in renewable energy

research.

"So I don't agree that we don't do our part with SAF; we are

doing our part".

SAF production doubled in 2023 and is expected to triple in

2024. But it costs three times more than kerosene and airlines

reiterated this would have to be passed to consumers.

They also complain they are competing with other industries

for access to limited renewable fuel capacity and need more

support from governments to complete the ambitious switch-over.

Governments last year set an interim target of 5% lower

emissions through the use of low-carbon fuels by 2030.

IATA stopped short of setting its own interim target, with

members unwilling to be boxed in without widespread government

policies to support the politically agreed goal, delegates said.

But Walsh said the trickle of available SAF made the interim

goal look ambitious, while reaffirming the 2050 net zero target.

On the sidelines, some senior delegates privately questioned

whether aviation could meet the 2050 target, adopted in 2021 to

tie the sector's climate action to the 2015 Paris accord.

The industry is trying to carry out the transition at the

same time as meeting post-COVID demand - an effort Qantas

Chief Sustainability Officer Andrew Parker likened to

"heart surgery while running a marathon".

In Europe, environmental groups say the challenge of meeting

the targets is only made worse by the scale of the industry's

own growth, highlighted by figures released this week showing

that IATA predicts almost $1 trillion of revenue in 2024.

"I don't get that debate or argument being made when I go to

India, China, Latin American or Africa, where it's quite the

opposite, where there is a genuine desire to see greater

connectivity" Walsh told Reuters

Attended by a record 1,700 delegates, the June 2-4 summit

was held in Dubai, the world's largest international hub.

IATA's next annual meeting will be in Delhi, capital to the

world's most populous nation and another aviation powerhouse.

(Additional reporting by Alexander Cornwell; editing by David

Evans)