A bright future for innovation in Sustainable Aviation Fuel

Last week the UK government announced that they will introduce a Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) mandate starting from 1 January 2025. The mandate is designed to drive up the demand for SAF within the UK and help the aviation industry reduce their emissions. 

The mandate is still subject to parliamentary approval but is due to require that an annually increasing percentage of UK jet fuel is SAF. It starts at 2% in 2025 and increases to 10% by 2030 and to 22% by 2040.

One particularly interesting part of the mandate is the government’s commitment to encouraging innovation of new production routes. A diversification of feedstocks is going to be required to ensure that we can generate enough SAF and prevent the industry being built upon a single, possibly unsustainable, solution. To encourage the diversification, the government are intending to introduce a cap on feedstocks based on hydroprocessed esters and fatty acids, requiring that other technologies are also employed. The cap will not be implemented immediately but is scheduled such that new technologies have time to become commercially viable.

Another feature of the mandate is a buy-out mechanism giving companies the chance to use non-conforming fuels, subject to an additional levy per litre. This is designed to encourage the use of SAF while protecting customers in situations where there is an inability to obtain a suitable fuel, or where there is a significant price rise in SAF. However, while this provides an element of certainty, it will not help with lowering emissions and therefore it is important that the innovation in this field makes the required steps such that SAF is produced in a cost effective and commercially viable manner. 

I therefore look forward to the seeing the development in the field over the next decade as the scheme takes off.