iscover
Planemaker Airbus has said SAF blending mandates should be part of the toolkit for driving greater uptake of sustainable aviation fuels.
Speaking at a media event in Sydney, Julie Kitcher, chief sustainability officer at Airbus, said a “basket of measures” is needed to promote more use of SAF, including a mandate that can be “phased in slowly and then uplifted”.
This content is available exclusively to Australian Aviation members.
A monthly membership is only $5.99 or save with our annual plans.
- Australian Aviation quarterly print & digital magazines
- Access to In Focus reports every month on our website
- Unlimited access to all Australian Aviation digital content
- Access to the Australian Aviation app
- Australian Aviation quarterly print & digital magazines
- Access to In Focus reports every month on our website
- Access to our Behind the Lens photo galleries and other exclusive content
- Daily news updates via our email bulletin
- Unlimited access to all Australian Aviation digital content
- Access to the Australian Aviation app
- Australian Aviation quarterly print & digital magazines
- Access to In Focus reports every month on our website
- Access to our Behind the Lens photo galleries and other exclusive content
- Daily news updates via our email bulletin
“If we take a step back, if we want to achieve 10 per cent [SAF] by 2030 across the globe, it means 34 million tonnes – but by 2035, if we’re going to look at that 2050 Net Zero trajectory, that figure is no longer 34 million tonnes, it’s 74 million tonnes. So, the growth is exponential,” she said.
“We need a basket of measures, starting with mandates and revenue price mechanisms or production incentives, because one side of the coin is not necessarily sufficient.
“We really need to work on demand policy and supply-side policy to be able to meet those objectives.”
While airlines are taking an interest, adoption has been slow for sustainable aviation fuel, which can be made from feedstocks such as agricultural waste and cooking oils.
This is in part due to the increased cost compared to conventional fuels, though Kitcher said economies of scale could help mitigate the “green premium”.
“We need to pull on the demand side, and we need to give fuel suppliers that visibility of the demand and uptake agreements to give security for the investments to be able to scale,” she said.
“We also need production incentives so that the fuel producers have the opportunity to invest in their facilities and be able to ramp up the production. So, it’s really on both sides that we need to work.”
Kitcher’s comments came as Airbus and Qantas jointly invested $15 million into a climate-focused venture capital fund.
The money will form a new vehicle alongside CTP’s main fund and will prioritise the development of SAF, feedstock development, and other related technologies.
It marks the latest step in Qantas and Airbus’ wider US$200 million joint initiative launched in 2022, aimed at fast-tracking SAF production, with Qantas in 2023 also calling for SAF blending mandates.
The 2023 Boeing/CSIRO SAF Roadmap had identified Australia as being in a “prime position” to develop a domestic SAF industry.
Max Temminghoff, the roadmap’s author and senior manager at the CSIRO, said Australia is in a good position to develop a domestic SAF industry but needed to address key challenges such as feedstock availability, supply chain issues, and international standards and regulations.
Toowoomba Wellcamp Airport owner Wagner announced last year it was partnering with Boeing to build a SAF plant in Brisbane, with construction to begin in 2026.
[email protected]
says:Before we start expending masses of monies on plant and equipment to design and produce SAF en masse can we please have a precise cost per kilolitre that we can accurately expect to pay going into the wing. (based on current test production methods) Seriously, if the cost is going to be, as has been muted/published, circa plus 400% then there has to be a better way. If we can’t meet those “Nett Zero” targets because of outrageous costs or the lack of whatever the problem is, then its back to basics, forget the targets remembering of course the fuel companies wont be interested in the investigation. At this stage, the evidence suggests that more efficient engines currently on pre-release will be the answer.