Airlines Lagging in Sustainable Jet Fuel Adoption

By Joanna Plucinska

(Reuters) – Most of the world's airlines are not doing enough to switch to sustainable jet fuel (SAF), according to a study by the Brussels-based advocacy group, Transport and Environment. The study also found insufficient investment from oil producers in the transition to SAF.

The airline sector has been calling for increased production of SAF, which can be derived from materials like wood chips and used cooking oil. Despite this, Francesco Catte, aviation policy manager at Transport and Environment, stated, "Unfortunately, airlines at the moment are not on the trajectory to have meaningful emissions reduction because they're not buying enough sustainable aviation fuel."

Currently, SAF accounts for only about 1% of global aviation fuel use, which must significantly increase for airlines to meet carbon emission reduction targets. The cost of SAF can be between two to five times higher than regular jet fuel, which poses another challenge for adoption.

The study highlights a lack of investment from major oil companies, which are needed to build SAF processing facilities and support market growth. Air France-KLM, United Airlines, and Norwegian are noted for having taken steps toward purchasing sustainable jet fuel, especially its synthetic and cleaner-burning variants.

However, 87% of airlines are not making meaningful efforts in this area. The study also notes that even those attempting to procure SAF may miss their targets without increased investments.

Airlines such as Italy's ITA Airways and Portugal's TAP are reported to have done very little to secure SAF for the coming years. A spokesperson for TAP mentioned that the airline was the first to operate in Portugal using SAF in July 2022 and is committed to achieving 10% SAF use by 2030. ITA Airways did not respond to a request for comment.