The long and winding road to SAF production

Although the prospects for the production of sustainable aviation fuels (SAFs) look a little better since October, governments and oil companies need to step up toward large-scale incentives to produce more SAF. These incentives are essential if the airline industry wants to get to net-zero carbon emissions by 2050. That was the message of IATA on the final day of its Annual General Meeting and World Air Transport Summit in Doha (Qatar). The long and winding road to SAF production.

During the previous AGM in Boston in October, IATA adopted a resolution to get to net-zero by 2050. Since then, there has been some momentum on SAFs. According to Sebastian Mikosz, Senior Vice President of Environment and Sustainability, there are now identified 61 initiatives for SAF production worldwide that should be able to produce 30 billion liters by 2030, up from 23 billion IATA calculated in October. But the step to 449 billion liters that is required in 2050 is still a huge one.

“I am disappointed that we haven’t made more progress. I was very pleased that during this morning’s panel discussion, one of the speakers made the point that the major oil companies need to do more”, said Director-General Willie Walsh. “The costs of extracting the oil haven’t doubled, the costs of providing the oil haven’t doubled, but they are selling it at twice the price. There is plenty of margins there for the fuel companies to do a much better job in relation to SAFs. We need to look at these companies to play their part in the transition. We are making progress, but it is measured today in words instead of actions.”