Wole Shadare 
Global airlines have entered into forward purchase agreements for Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) worth around a total of $45 billion, well in excess of today’s SAF availability. This is coming as the International Air Transport Association (IATA) looks forward to governments delivering the supportive policies needed to enable aviation’s decarbonization, as agreed at the Third Conference on Aviation Alternative Fuels (CAAF/3) hosted by The International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) in Dubai.
The CAAF/3 delivered a critical agreement on a global framework to promote Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) production in all geographies around the world. The aim is that aviation fuel in 2030 will be five per cent less carbon intensive than fossil fuel used today by the industry, acknowledging that certain states have the capacity to progress at a faster pace and that others do not.
Other capacity building, a “Finvest Hub,” and voluntary technology transfer, are all among the measures put forward to ensure that all countries can partake in a global SAF market.
The need for a solution that can foster a global SAF market while enabling airlines to claim the environmental attributes of their SAF purchases against their decarbonisation obligations, is based on a global and robust SAF accounting framework.
“Governments have understood the critical role of SAF to achieve net zero emissions for aviation by 2050. The CAAF/3 results add a vision on the shorter, 2030, time horizon that is ambitious. To that end, the CAAF/3 agreement signals to the world in no uncertain terms the need for policies that enable real progress. There is no time to lose. IATA now expects governments to urgently put the strongest possible policies in place to unlock the full potential of a global SAF market with an exponential increase in production,” said Willie Walsh, IATA’s Director General.
He stated that this is necessary because airlines’ demand for SAF, is in line with their commitment to net zero carbon emissions by 2050, which vastly exceeds the availability of SAF today, which is limited to 0.2 per cent of airlines’ jet fuel consumption in 2023. Airlines have sent major demand signals to the SAF production market:
“We need to see governments acting on the CAAF/3 declaration with policies that expand SAF production in all its shapes and forms. Despite unequivocal demand signals, the SAF production market is not developing fast enough. We need SAF everywhere in the world, and to that end, the right supportive policies – policies that can stimulate production, promote competition, foster innovation, and attract financing – must be put in place today,” said Walsh.
