Policy & Compliance
How is the aviation industry doing in preparation for meeting the UK government’s target of having 10% Sustainable Aviation Fuel blended in the UK jet fuel mix by 2030? Towards net-zero in aviation
awareness stage. The remaining forwarders said it was not a focus for, or not applicable to, them. The broad adoption of SAF will be required to help reach the industry’s low carbon goals and airlines are reporting that they have enough customers in the airfreight industry that want to buy it. Book and claim Some airlines and logistics organisations are offering book and claim solutions that allow shippers to reduce their emissions on routes with no access to sustainable fuels. In practice, this means that when SAF is not available at the location the cargo is flying from, it is possible to deliver SAF into the supply chain at one airport location and ‘book’ the carbon reduction associated with it into a registry. Then the customer at another location can ‘claim’ those carbon reductions by purchasing their traditional jet fuel along with the benefit of the lifecycle carbon reductions that have been registered in that registry. Purchasing book and claim SAF reduces lifecycle carbon emissions by introducing more SAF into the supply chain and providing a wider range of customers with the benefits of SAF. However, book and claim SAF sales must be credible, traceable and must not lead to double counting, so they require robust procedures to manage the book and claim registry.
T he aviation industry’s net-zero carbon emissions target is focused on delivering the maximum reduction in emissions at source and Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) has the potential to provide the bulk of the emissions reductions that the industry will need to make by 2050. The UK government’s ambition is for at least 10% of the UK jet fuel demand to come from SAF and has committed to a target of 10% SAF blended in the UK jet fuel mix by 2030. In a recent edition of BIFAlink, we reported that a passenger jet powered by 100% SAF took off from London Heathrow to New York. This demonstrated that SAF can replace traditional jet fuel, giving an impressive reduction of CO 2 emissions ranging from 65% to 80% over the lifecycle of the fuel, depending on the sustainable feedstock used and the production method. What is SAF? SAFs are liquid fuels that can be produced from several sources, including crops, household waste and cooking oils. Any aircraft certified to use the current specification of jet fuel can use SAF.
However, one of the big challenges with SAF is that current volumes and existing supply points are limited. In 2023, SAF production represented just 0.2% of global jet fuel use. It is currently more costly than traditional jet fuel due to a combination of the availability of sustainable feedstocks and the continuing development of new production technologies. The UK government is introducing policies to accelerate commercial production and deployment and is also developing a UK SAF mandate that will require jet fuel suppliers to blend SAF into aviation fuel from 2025 to reach the 2030 target. The focus on SAF A recent air cargo industry sustainability survey by The International Air Cargo Association (TIACA) found that large organisations increase their focus on SAF, but only 35% of approximately 300 respondents (made up of airlines, airports, ground handlers, freight forwarders and shippers) confirmed they are actively involved in the deployment of SAF. The survey further showed that 37% of freight forwarders are at the action stage, with 21% at the
“ The broad adoption of SAF will be required to help reach the industry’s low carbon goals and airlines are reporting that they have enough customers in the airfreight industry that want to buy it
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June 2024 | 21
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