The Jet Zero Council, a collaboration with industry set up by the previous UK government, has been relaunched as the Jet Zero Taskforce, with the aim of streamlining aviation decarbonisation priorities as the sector strives to reach its net zero emissions by 2050 target. The Taskforce will support the production and delivery of sustainable aviation fuels and zero emission flights, as well as look at how to improve aviation systems to make them more efficient. It will also explore the sector’s demand for GHG removals and the non-CO2 impacts of aviation. The UK’s SAF mandate, which takes effect from January 1, has now officially been signed into law, requiring 22% of all jet fuel to come from sustainable sources by 2040. The government has also started a public consultation on the implementation of ICAO’s global carbon offsetting scheme CORSIA, how it will be regulated in the UK and the penalties for non-compliance.

The restructured Jet Zero Taskforce will feature an annual CEO-level meeting chaired by the UK’s Transport Secretary that will set priorities for tackling aviation emissions and review progress. Members will include the Secretary of States for Business and Trade, and Energy Security and Net Zero, plus CEOs of major airlines such as easyJet, British Airways and Virgin, airports like Heathrow and Manchester, as well as senior representatives from fuel producers, trade bodies and universities.

Below the executive Plenary level will be a smaller Expert Group to support the Taskforce’s priorities, which will be jointly chaired by the Aviation Minister, currently Mike Kane, and Holly Boyd-Boland, VP of Corporate Development at Virgin Atlantic. “By pinpointing key barriers to decarbonisation and directing a select number of smaller action groups to tackle these challenges, this level will be crucial to the delivery of the Taskforce’s objectives,” explained the Department for Transport, which acts as the secretariat.

“Taking up the role of industry chair is a huge privilege and I look forward to working alongside government, with its renewed focus and leadership of the Jet Zero Taskforce,” said Boyd-Boland. “Together, we can harness the ambition across industry to achieve net zero 2050.”

Added Tim Alderslade, CEO of trade body Airlines UK: “Collaboration with government and across the whole sector and supply chain is vital to making the rapid progress we need, and we look forward to working with the new Taskforce to help usher in a new era of sustainable air travel, with all the jobs and investment that entails.”

The first plenary meeting of the Taskforce took place on December 4.

A main priority is to support the development, production, commercialisation and use of sustainable aviation fuels in the UK and also globally. The government will invest up to £450,000 ($570,000) to support aviation decarbonisation measures in other countries, such as helping developing states develop policy and access financing for SAF, as well as to offset carbon emissions from international flights. The announcement coincided with the visit to the UK of the ICAO Secretary General, Juan Carlos Salazar, and the signing of a memorandum of understanding covering all areas of UK-ICAO cooperation.

The UK SAF mandate, which applies from 1 January 2025, has now passed into law. Starting at 2% of total UK jet fuel demand, equal to around 230,000 tonnes, the use of SAF is intended to increase on a linear basis to 10% in 2030 and then to 22% in 2040, after when the obligation will remain at 22% “until there is greater certainty regarding SAF supply,” says the government. The supply of HEFA-derived fuels will be capped after the first two years of the mandate, which will become more stringent over time. A separate obligation (0.2% of jet fuel demand) on power-to-liquid fuels kicks in from 2028 that reaches 3.5% of total jet fuel demand in 2040.

The mandate also introduces tradeable certificates for the supply of SAF, with additional certificates awarded for fuels with higher GHG emissions savings, and a buy-out price mechanism will operate to allow suppliers to discharge their obligation. It is intended that the value of certificates will narrow the gap between the price of kerosene and the cost of SAF, thereby encouraging the production of SAF.

However, the government acknowledges that the mandate alone may not provide sufficient long-term certainty to maximise investment in SAF production in the UK. It has therefore committed through legislation to introducing a revenue certainty mechanism by the end of 2026 to provide investor confidence.

CORSIA implementation

The government has also opened a public consultation on its proposals for how the UK will implement and regulate ICAO’s global Carbon Offsetting and Reduction Scheme for International Aviation (CORSIA), which requires airlines to offset CO2 emissions on international routes above a given baseline (85% of 2019 emissions from international aviation). The consultation seeks feedback on proposed penalties for non-compliance.

It also includes proposals on how CORSIA can be implemented while maintaining commitments under the UK Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS), including how flights from the UK to Europe can be prevented from being subject to both schemes and measures “to ensure airlines are not unfairly burdened”.

Said the government: “This approach also aims to avoid unnecessary price increases for passengers, ensuring the UK’s decarbonisation efforts do not negatively impact those who rely on air travel.”

The UK is one of 129 countries now taking part in CORSIA and, with the mandatory phase starting in 2027, is offering support to other countries to help them participate in the scheme. The UK has already trained 11 other countries in Africa and other regions to apply the scheme.

“The UK is already at the forefront of global efforts to address climate change and carbon pricing schemes play a vital role in decarbonising aviation,” said Aviation Minister Mike Kane.

“The government is committed to supporting the aviation industry and with our Plan for Change at the heart, we’re helping the UK transition to a cleaner future in the most cost-effective way. We welcome all views on how airlines can continue participating in these crucial initiatives.”

The consultation has been welcomed by IATA. “We support the UK government’s plans to adopt and implement the scheme, and encourage countries to prepare for CORSIA implementation in full alignment with the ICAO CORSIA Standards and Recommended Practices, and to make the needed carbon credits available,” commented Marie Owens Thomsen, SVP Sustainability & Chief Economist.

The UK is implementing CORSIA in two parts, the first of which is the requirement to monitor, report and verify (MRV) CO2 emissions, and has already been incorporated into UK law. The second, on which the government is now consulting, concerns the requirement to offset CO2 emissions, including the applicability and calculation of offsetting requirements and cancellation of CORSIA credits, called Eligible Emissions Units (EEUs), and also the interaction between CORSIA and the UK ETS.

Penalties and enforcement for non-compliance with CORSIA’s MRV requirements are consistent with UK ETS legislation and the government proposes this approach is also followed for CORSIA’s offsetting requirements to ensure uniformity. Therefore applying a civil penalty of £100 ($130) for each CORSIA EEU that an aeroplane operator fails to cancel on time, as well as other non-compliance penalties.

The consultation will run until 10 February 2025.

Update 19 December: The Department for Transport has just released a 170-page technical guidance document and also a compliance document on the UK SAF Mandate.

Photo: Heathrow Airport

Christopher Surgenor

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A new study by UK-based consultancy CFP Energy has identified a significant divergence of strategies to decarbonise aviation in the UK, France and Germany, and serious impediments to the industry’s ability to reach its net zero emissions targets. The report, ‘Decarbonising the Future: Navigating ETS Reforms and Net Zero Solutions’, was based on surveys of chief financial officers and risk management professionals of more than 500 organisations in high-emission industries including aviation, shipping, construction, data centres and manufacturing. The study reflected strong uptake of measures including biofuels, green certificates and voluntary carbon credits. But of the aviation operators surveyed in the UK and Europe, 95% of respondents expect a rise in carbon allowance demand, while funding limitations and insufficient access to new technologies are highlighted as key barriers to progress.

“Between funding issues, regulations, knowledge gaps and a lack of technology, large-scale organisations face a mountain of issues to overcome,” said CFP Energy’s COO, Catherine Newman, commenting on the report.     

The survey, commissioned by CFP and conducted by London-based research group 3Gem before the UN’s recent COP29 climate summit in Baku, Azerbaijan, focused on the urgent push to reduce carbon emissions, particularly in Europe, where intensified regulations and steep decarbonisation targets have been announced. In the aviation sector, respondents included airlines, airport operators and associated businesses.  

Central to the survey was the European Union’s ‘Fit for 55’ reform programme, developed to reduce carbon emissions by enacting measures including the EU Emissions Trading System, which since 2012 has imposed ever-increasing limits on emissions from intra-Europe flights.

After Brexit, the UK introduced its own ETS, while France and Germany adopted customised approaches to reach net zero carbon emissions, complicating compliance for airlines operating in these markets.

A key concern for carriers that responded to the survey is the rapid reduction in free carbon allowances, which are due to be phased out in 2026, and both the scarcity and cost of future concessions. Based on 2010 benchmarks, airlines have previously received up to 82% of their carbon allowances for free. But this year they have been reduced by 25%, and next year will come down by 50% before they are abolished and replaced with a full auction system.

As well, the EU is considering expanding its ETS obligations by 2027 to also include non-CO2 emissions such as nitrous oxides and soot, both key elements of warming contrails produced by aircraft in specific conditions and coming under increasing global scrutiny.

The study found 95% of airline respondents in the UK and Europe expected a rise in demand for carbon allowances, but also identified significant barriers to their decarbonisation ambitions, with 61% highlighting funding limitations and 60% the insufficient availability of new technologies to help them reduce their carbon emissions.

As well, 54% of respondents identified knowledge gaps as impediments to reducing emissions, and 53% cited regulatory complexities.

But aviation operators still continued to pursue other decarbonisation technologies and products, the most popular being biofuels (53%) and voluntary carbon markets (51%), followed at 48% by power purchase agreements and green certificates (44%). The industry also indicated significant interest in alternative fuel sources, particularly hydrogen.      

Most respondents to the survey (90%) said they had produced a plan to transition their businesses to net zero operations, through there were marked differences between the UK, Germany and France among those who said they were not meeting targets.

Of total respondents, 13% of those with transition plans were falling short of their targets. In France, 17% said they were underachieving, while in Germany 7% were behind.

“What is most interesting,” said Newman, “are the barriers that industry stakeholders attribute to holding their respective sectors back.

“We hope this report provides business leaders with actionable solutions to tackle decarbonisation amidst volatile conditions. The solutions to decarbonise exist, we simply need to provide better access to them.”

Tim Atkinson, CFP Energy’s Director of Sales and Structuring, said it was vital that businesses focused on changes needed to comply with evolving environmental regulations.  

“It’s encouraging to see many of the survey participants are planning for rises in future ETS carbon prices and taking advantage of the flexibility carbon markets offer to manage rising compliance costs whilst technology challenges are addressed,” he said.

“It has never been more important for businesses to ensure they are prepared for the paradigm shift of tougher targets and higher carbon prices that is set to impact both the UK and EU emissions trading schemes over the next five to 10 years.”

Tony Harrington

Correspondent

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A high-profile European coalition has joined forces to urgently advance the production of e-SAF – sustainable aviation fuels produced by combining renewable electricity, water and captured carbon dioxide. Project SkyPower brings together 13 CEOs and more than 50 companies including airlines, airports, energy companies and financiers to push for government policies that enable production of e-SAF from 2030. A report by the new group says Europe has a strong opportunity to capture a big share of the global e-SAF market, which it estimates could be worth €250 billion ($270bn) by 2050 and create up to 90,000 direct jobs. But it argues that to do so will require investments between €15 billion and €25 billion by 2030, encouraged by supportive government policies. Globally, says the report, Europe has 26 of the 31 large-scale e-SAF projects currently proposed. “But while 70% of the global e-SAF project pipeline is located in Europe,” it adds, “no plant has yet reached final investment decision (FID).”

Foundation members of Project SkyPower include Air France-KLM, easyJet, Arcadia eFuels, Copenhagen Airports, private jet service Victor, SAF providers Velocys and SkyNRG, and finance and technology providers including ING, Rockton, Natixis, KGAL and Topsoe. It is co-chaired by Dutch industrialist and former Unilever CEO Paul Polman, and the CEOs of KLM, Marjan Rintel, and Arcadia eFuels, Amy Hebert.

“Project SkyPower’s mission is to pave the way for the first large-scale e-SAF plants in Europe to reach final investment decision by 2025,” says the report, “in order to drive progress towards key regulatory targets, ReFuelEU and the UK mandate.”

To reach those targets and achieve net zero emissions by 2050, the group argues that production of e-SAF must commence by 2030 and continue to develop, initially with strong government support.

Project SkyPower has been convened to promote e-SAF as the most effective and eventually most affordable pathway to low-carbon flight, and to urge governments to introduce policies that reduce investment risk in infrastructure development and fuel production before SAF mandates take effect.  

While e-SAF technology is scaled, the group wants government funding from existing taxes on the aviation industry to bridge the premium between e-SAF and fossil fuels, helping to secure long-term demand and mitigating first-of-a-kind project risk to initially unlock commercial capital.

The Project SkyPower report says e-SAF could deliver lifecycle emissions up to 90% lower than conventional aviation fuels with few feedstock constraints compared to other SAF types.

“Bio-SAF, or SAF produced from biogenic material, offers an affordable and commercially available decarbonisation solution for aviation both in the near and long term,” says the report.

“However, due to the globally limited availability of sustainable biomass feedstock and competing demands from other sectors, bio-SAF alone will not be able to decarbonise the aviation industry. It will need to be complemented by large volumes of e-SAF.”

As well, says the report, e-SAF production is held back by a lack of renewable energy generating capacity, and the need to accelerate development of Direct Air Capture technology for trapping atmospheric CO2.  

Project SkyPower warns that European aviation has less than two years to achieve final investment decisions for e-SAF plants if the fuel is to be available in time to comply with EU and UK SAF blending mandates.

It estimates capital investment of €15 billion to €25 billion ($16-27bn) will be needed by 2030, with a further €3 billion to €5 billion annually to reach the scale needed to meet escalating blending mandates.

“E-SAF needs to reach commercial scale by 2030 and hit market tipping points in the 2030s to reach the scale necessary to enable a lower-emissions aviation industry by 2050,” claims the report.

“It typically takes five years for an e-SAF project between reaching final investment decision and being operational. Therefore, FIDs for e-SAF projects are needed by 2025 to start production by 2030.”

The report says economic modelling performed for Project SkyPower indicates that without government subsidies, the production cost alone of e-SAF in Europe could be five to eight times greater than that of conventional jet fuel, including Emission Trading Scheme costs.

KLM’s CEO, Marjan Rintel, one of the three co-chairs of Project SkyPower, and the Air France-KLM representative in the group, said her company had studied multiple decarbonisation technologies “of which synthetic fuel (e-SAF) is expected to be the most promising in terms of feedstock availability and cost perspective.”

She added: “Project SkyPower is modelling the conditions required to overcome the barriers to scaling e-SAF. By working together, we now have a shared economic model for e-SAF and an action plan to be implemented by the wider aviation ecosystem.”

Another of the group’s co-chairs, Arcadia’s Amy Hebert said: “Successful delivery of Project SkyPower’s action plan will fundamentally change the e-SAF landscape, establishing the necessary conditions to take final investment decisions and accelerate this critical technology towards commercial operation by 2030.” Her company is aiming to activate a new e-SAF plant at Vordingborg, on the Danish island of Zealand, in 2026. The third of Project SkyPower’s co-chairs, Paul Polman, said: “Partnering with governments, financial institutions and civil society is imperative to scale e-SAF to a tipping point where it not only progresses on urgent emissions reduction but also secures millions of jobs and future-proofs the aviation industry.”

Photo: A flight by KLM from Amsterdam to Madrid in 2021 used 500 litres of e-SAF produced by Shell

Tony Harrington

Correspondent

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A report by the University of Cambridge’s Aviation Impact Accelerator project sets out four actionable steps that are needed over the next five years to help the global aviation sector achieve net zero emissions by 2050. Despite ambitious pledges from governments and industry, the sector so far “remains dangerously off track” in its efforts, says the report, and insists the four goals must be implemented immediately, otherwise “the opportunity for transformation could be lost”. This would leave the world to face escalating climate impacts from a rapidly growing aviation sector that is projected to at least double its emissions by 2050. The four goals include removing aircraft contrails, implementing a new wave of policies aimed at unlocking efficiency gains, reforming sustainable aviation fuel policies and, finally, launching several moonshot technology demonstration programmes such as on long-haul hydrogen aircraft.

The report, ‘Five years to chart a new future for aviation’, is the work of the Aviation Impact Accelerator, a project led by the University of Cambridge and hosted by the university’s Whittle Laboratory and the Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership (CISL).

While endorsing a net zero vision for the industry, “current efforts fall short in both scope and speed,” it says, arguing that some proposed solutions could potentially exacerbate the crisis, such as a heavy reliance on biomass for jet fuel without managing its environmental impact. “It is also crucial to address aviation’s broader climate impacts, including the formation of persistent contrails. The stakes have never been higher: urgent action is needed to shift the sector onto a sustainable path.”

Commented Professor Rob Miller, Director of the Whittle Laboratory: “Aviation stands at a pivotal moment, much like the automotive industry in the late 2000s. Back then, discussions centred around biofuels as the replacement for petrol and diesel – until Tesla revolutionised the future with electric vehicles. Our five-year plan is designed to accelerate this decision point in aviation, setting it on a path to achieve net zero by 2050.”

The plan involves immediately implementing four sustainable aviation goals that were originated during an inaugural meeting of the Transatlantic Sustainable Aviation Partnership held at MIT in the US in April 2023, with representatives from the UK, US and EU. They were further discussed at a roundtable hosted by the Sustainable Markets Initiative in the presence of King Charles III, and previewed at the opening of COP28.

• Goal 1: Dubbed Operation Blue Skies, it calls on governments and industry to create several ‘Airspace-Scale Living Labs’ to enable a global contrail avoidance system to be deployed by 2030.
• Goal 2: In 2025, leading governments should clearly commit about their intention to drive system-wide efficiency improvements and should work together with industry to develop strategies, so that by 2030, a new wave of policies can be implemented to unlock these systemic efficiency gains.
• Goal 3: In 2025, governments should reform sustainable aviation fuel policy development to adopt a cross-sector approach, enabling rapid scalability within global biomass limitations. By 2030, governments and industry should implement a demonstration and deployment strategy that enables SAF production to move beyond purely biomass-based methods, incorporating more carbon-efficient synthetic production techniques.
• Goal 4: In 2025, launch several high-reward experimental demonstration moonshot programmes to enable the focus on, and scale-up of, the most viable transformative technologies by 2030.

The report says goals 2 and 3 can be achieved with minimal new technology but require “robust and clear” market signals and swift policy action, whereas goals 1 and 4 “demand immediate efforts to push the boundaries of technology, creating new opportunities from 2030”.

Growing awareness and commitment to action are encouraging, believe the authors of the report. “Still, it is essential to match those professed concerns with decisive interventions over the next five years to create a credible path to net zero aviation by 2050,” they add.

The Aviation Impact Accelerator is a global initiative that brings together more than 100 experts from across the aviation industry to accelerate the sector’s transition to net zero emissions. Its goal is to develop interactive tools and models that assist stakeholders – governments, industry and the public – in understanding and exploring pathways to sustainable aviation.

“AIA modelling has drawn on the best available evidence to show that there are major challenges to be navigated if we’re to achieve net zero flying at scale, but that is possible,” said Eliot Whittington, Executive Director at CISL. “With focus and a step change in ambition from governments and business, we can address the hurdles, unlock sustainable flying and in doing so, build new industries and support wider economic change.”

Photo (University of Cambridge): Prof Rob Miller and King Charles III at the Whittle Laboratory facility

Christopher Surgenor

Editor

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Oxford University spin-out OXCCU has opened a demonstration Power-to-Liquid (PtL) sustainable aviation fuel production plant at Oxford Airport in the UK. Designed and operated by OXCCU, the first-of-a-kind facility is due to start operations in September, producing 1.2kg (approximately 1.2 litres) of liquid fuel per day. The company says it will be the world’s first demonstration of the direct conversion of CO2 and hydrogen to jet fuel range hydrocarbons in a single step through using its novel catalyst. Most PtL processes use a two-step approach involving the conversion of CO2 to CO, which OXCCU says requires a large energy input that leads to high operating and end product costs, a major barrier to e-SAF adoption. If proven successful, this first plant, OX1, will be followed by a bigger facility, OX2, to be designed, built and operated at Saltend Chemicals Park in north-east England by 2026 and capable of producing 160kg (200 litres) per day. The company has received backing from Boston-based Clean Energy Ventures and United Airlines, among others.

“We’re beyond excited to launch the OX1 plant, located close to where OXCCU was born,” Andrew Symes, the company’s co-founder and CEO, told a media event to launch the facility. “The fuel we’ve already made in a single step from CO2 in the lab has created great excitement with its potential to massively reduce the cost of SAF, but the scale-up is key and this plant will generate the data and litres of fuel we need.”

The catalytic technology for converting CO2 to aviation jet fuel, which the company is calling OX•EFUEL, was first developed at the University of Oxford’s chemistry department, which resulted in a breakthrough paper published in Nature in 2020 and the filing of a patent, followed by the OXCCU spin-out in 2021.  

In addition to Symes, the founders and senior management are Oxford University alumni and include Dr Jane Jin, COO; Dr Naomi Wise, CSO; Dr Benzhen Yao, Chief Engineer; and Dr Tiancun Xiao, CTO. Dr Xiao is a renowned catalyst expert with more than 300 publications and over 50 industry patents filed, and was a co-founder of Oxford Catalysts, now Velocys.

The key to the OXCCU one-step process is a patented multifunctional iron catalyst that converts CO2 and H2 directly into jet fuel range hydrocarbons using different active sites on the same catalyst surface, avoiding the step to first produce CO. “To our knowledge, we are the only SAF company with a one-step catalyst that does not produce significant amounts of alcohols as a byproduct,” says the company. “The process eliminates the need for a Reverse Water Gas Shift or electrochemical syngas step to first produce CO, which leads to a step-change, simpler reactor design with higher efficiency.”

It adds that modelling by independent researchers from Imperial College London has shown OXCCU’s one-step process “significantly reduces SAF cost due to higher selectivity yield in the jet fuel range and a 50% lower capital cost.” The company accepts that a significant amount of ‘green’ electricity is required to produce the green hydrogen from water via electrolysis but that its CO2 + H2 to SAF process is exothermic in that it releases energy “and we operate under mild conditions”. OXCCU adds that its catalyst has been validated for over 2,000 hours in lab conditions.

“While 1.2 litres of fuel a day may not seem significant, it’s a big scale-up moving from the lab to operating a chemical plant,” said Symes.

Symes acknowledges the main problem with e-fuels is cost. “With biofuels, the challenge is feedstocks, with us it’s costs. The solution is the catalyst, which enables you to convert CO2 into fuel. The catalyst is the heart of all processes in the petrochemical industry and our catalyst enables you to get CO2 to fuel at lower capital and operating costs.”

So where will the CO2 come from? “In the short term we can use industrial sources for the CO2, which will get you emissions reductions of 70-80% compared to fossil,” said Symes. “We’re not saying this is perfect but we can move towards perfection by capturing CO2 from the air and combining it with green hydrogen to make fuel. You can also capture CO2 from biogenic sources. So we’re talking about carbon capture and utilisation and using CO2 as a viable resource and not just putting it underground.”

While PtL production will remain small initially, he predicts a rapid scale-up in the years to come, partly driven by government policy. The EU’s SAF blending mandate requires 28% of all jet fuel consumed to come from e-fuels by 2050, with the UK proposed SAF mandate requiring a more modest 3.5% by 2040, a move that disappoints Symes.

A Series A funding round in 2023 raised £18 million ($23m) and this year OXCCU won a £2.8 million UK government grant through the Advanced Fuels Fund. Investment has come from IP Group (now Kiko Ventures), Clean Energy Ventures, United Airlines, Eni, Aramco Ventures and Trafigura. It also has support from Oxford Airport, Oxford University, the jet fuel research and test centre at the University of Sheffield, Boeing, Rolls-Royce and IAG.

The company is looking to raise further finance of £20-25 million later this year or early next to enable funding of the Saltend project, where the fuel produced will be used for jet fuel testing and earning revenues from customers. The ultimate aim is to provide technology packages to SAF project developers on a global basis.

“We want to be the leading catalyst provider and license the design of our reactor and process but we will be distinct from the developer who is financing and building the project,” said Symes. “OXCCU’s catalyst will sit at the centre of the refinery of the future.”

Photo: OXCCU’s Head of Engineering, Charles Yiu, in front of the newly completed OX1 plant at Oxford Airport

Christopher Surgenor

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Two emerging UK-based renewable fuel producers have announced plans to scale the development of eSAF, sustainable aviation fuel created by combining captured carbon dioxide and green hydrogen through the power-to-liquid (PtL) pathway. OXCCU, a climate technology spinoff from Oxford University, will partner with another UK company, the infrastructure provider px Group, to develop a first-of-a-kind eSAF demonstration plant at the Saltend Chemicals Park in the Humber region, while Zero Petroleum has signed a MoU with Airbus to advance eSAF development to enable commercial-scale production of 100% drop-in synthetic jet fuel from 2026. The UK’s proposed SAF mandate includes a PtL obligation on fuel producers to supply 0.2% of total jet fuel demand from 2028, rising to 3.5% in 2040.

Key benefits of eSAF are the abundance of CO2 either captured from the atmosphere or direct from industrial plants, and the ability to recycle the toxic gases into energy products including SAF and renewable diesel fuel.

OXCCU develops catalysts and processes to transform carbon dioxide and green hydrogen into non-fossil fuels, chemicals and plastics. It plans to develop SAF by using an iron-based catalyst to combine captured CO2 and green hydrogen in a single step, instead, it says, of the traditional, more complex and more expensive two-step process involving Reverse Water Gas Shift (RWGS) and Fischer-Tropsch reaction.

The company has demonstrated what it claims is the world’s first direct CO2 hydrogenation process, converting CO2 into SAF while creating minimal oxygenate byproducts, and will develop the first-of-a-kind demo plant at px Group’s Saltend Chemicals Park, with the fuel to be created from a combination of biogenic carbon dioxide and green hydrogen.

With a planned start date for operations of 2026, the fuel company’s initial daily production will be 160 kilograms (200 litres) of liquid fuel, most of which will be SAF, while px Group will provide the engineering design and construction of the Outside Battery Limits (OSBL) support facilities.

OXCCU’s renewable fuel plans have attracted significant support from climate-focused investors, with backers including Clean Energy Ventures, Aramco Ventures, United Airlines Ventures Sustainable Flight Fund, Braavos Capital, and Eni Next, the corporate venture division of Italy’s Eni energy company. 

“The strategic combination of OXCCU’s highly efficient novel catalyst and process with px Group’s world leading facilities creates the perfect environment for us to scale up,” said OXCCU’s CEO Andrew Symes. “This project will demonstrate CO2 and hydrogen directly converted into jet fuel-range hydrocarbons and the potential for much lower cost SAF.”

Geoff Holmes, px Group’s CEO, welcomed the new partnership and the development at his company’s Saltend facility. “We are passionate about cutting CO2 emissions and helping the UK to meet its sustainability ambitions,” he said. “This groundbreaking project with OXCCU further meets this commitment and demonstrates the confidence in Saltend as a pioneering centre for industrial decarbonisation projects.”    

The Zero Petroleum partnership with Airbus is designed to leverage both companies’ experience in order to progress the development of eSAF and expedite its certification as a recognised zero emission aviation fuel.

Zero is led by founder and CEO Paddy Lowe, a former engineer and executive of the Williams, Mercedes and McLaren Formula One motor racing teams.

The company recently opened Plant Zero.1 near Oxford, which it claims to be the world’s first fully-featured synthetic fuel plant. The facility contains equipment for all three separate processes used to create the fuel: direct air capture, electrolysis to create green hydrogen and Zero’s proprietary Fischer-Tropsch technology, DirectFT. The company plans to build a commercial scale plant (Plant Zero.2) to start production of its eSAF in 2026.

Airbus is targeting 15% SAF in its global fuel mix by the end of this year and at least 30% by 2030 and has partnered in industry trials the assess the impact of SAF use on reducing CO2 and non-CO2 aircraft emissions.

“By combining Airbus’ legacy of innovation with Zero’s proven, high-performance eSAF solution, we are well positioned to advance on the industry’s net zero decarbonisation targets faster than today,” said Lowe.

Zero added that both companies had made significant contributions to decarbonising air transport, with the fuel company securing in 2021 the Guinness Book of Records title of ‘first aircraft powered by synthetic fuel’, and Airbus having successfully tested commercial and military aircraft with 100% SAF.

“The fuel’s energy density and ability to power existing engines without modification make it an ideal solution for aviation, which faces distinct challenges as a hard-to-abate sector,” said the company. “Zero’s agreement with Airbus could lead to a new technology pathway being certified for the everyday use of eSAF in aviation.”

Top photo: OXCCU’s first demo plant will be located at px Group’s Saltend Chemicals Park in north-east England

Bottom photo: Airbus CSO Julie Kitcher and Zero Petroleum CEO Paddy Lowe with their teams

Tony Harrington

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The UK government has released long-awaited details of its intention to implement a SAF mandate from 1 January 2025 that aims to deliver emission reductions of 2.7 MtCO2e in 2030 and 6.3 MtCO2e in 2040 through the use of sustainable aviation fuels. From 2025, SAF will have to make up at least 2% of total UK jet fuel demand, increase on a linear basis to 10% in 2030 and then to 22% in 2040. From 2040, the obligation will remain at 22% until there is greater certainty regarding SAF supply, says the government. A separate mandate will be introduced from 2028 on power-to-liquid (PtL) fuels, with a 0.2% obligation that will rise to 3.5% in 2040. The mandate provides for a buy-out mechanism for both fuels where suppliers are unable to secure SAF or PtL supplies, set at £4.70 ($5.90) and £5.00 ($6.30) per litre of fuel respectively. The government has also started a consultation process on introducing, possibly by 2026, an industry-funded revenue certainty mechanism to help provide investor confidence in UK commercial-scale SAF production.

Using powers under the Energy Act 2004, the government aims to lay secondary legislation this summer, ahead of an anticipated UK general election in the autumn, so that the UK SAF Mandate scheme can enter into effect at the start of next year.

“Sustainable aviation fuel protects the future of UK aviation, the thousands of British jobs that depend on it, and the holidays and business travel flights that we all rely on,” said Transport Secretary Mark Harper, unveiling details of the mandate. “As part of our plan to grow the economy, the measures announced will give both UK aviation and the UK SAF industry the certainty they need to keep creating skilled British jobs, while giving passengers the freedom to continue travelling by air in a way that’s fit for the future.”

The legislation will include a five-yearly review mechanism from 2030 that the government says will help manage prices and minimise the impact on ticket fares for passengers, with powers to change key limits within the mandate to block higher price rises in the case of SAF shortages. Any increases in air fares as a result of SAF will fall within the range of usual fluctuations of fuel prices, it adds.

“While we recognise SAF may be more expensive than traditional jet fuel in the immediate term, we’re ensuring decarbonisation doesn’t come at the expense of consumers,” said Harper. “This plan is part of our approach to ensure that the rationing of flights through demand management is ruled out.”

UK aviation used an estimated 81 million litres of SAF in 2023, up from 48 million litres in 2022 (a 0.4% share of all jet fuel supplied), and the 2% obligation in 2025 is equal to around 230,000 tonnes (approximately 290 million litres) of SAF. “Based on a continuation of this trend, forecasted global production capacity and the impact of a comprehensive SAF programme in the UK, we are confident that this 2025 target and the trajectory to 2030 strike the right balance,” says the government.

The commitment to at least 10% SAF in 2030, higher than the EU’s target of 6%, “is the most ambitious SAF obligation in the world,” it argues.

To meet the obligation, certificates will be issued to jet fuel suppliers for the supply of SAF, which must achieve a minimum GHG emissions reduction of 40%, in proportion to GHG emissions reduction delivered. The mandate will include a certificate trading scheme, with three types of certificates: PtL certificates, standard certificates and HEFA certificates. Those suppliers that invest in SAF and supply beyond their obligation level will be able to sell their excess certificates to those that have a shortfall.

The Transport Secretary will act as the Administrator of the scheme, with responsibility delegated to an administration unit within the Department for Transport. To ensure compliance with the scheme, the Administrator will have the right to apply “proportionate sanctions”.

A complexity of the mandate is striking the right balance between the use of HEFA fuels – used cooking oil and fats, for example – that make up nearly all current commercial supplies of SAF, while encouraging the development and use of advanced fuels. The government has decided that HEFA can contribute a maximum amount (100%)  of SAF demand in 2025 and 2026, before applying a cap so that HEFA use decreases to 71% in 2030 and 35% in 2040.

In order to be eligible under the mandate, the government will impose “strict” sustainability criteria that SAF must meet. They must be made from sustainable, non-recyclable wastes or residues (for example, used cooking oil or forestry residues), recycled carbon fuels (for example, unrecyclable plastics) or PtL fuels made using low carbon (renewable or nuclear) electricity. SAF produced from food, feed or energy crops will not be eligible.

“We will monitor developments in SAF technologies and feedstocks, and keep under review broadening the list of eligible fuel types and feedstocks, for example, to include sustainable crops and cover crops,” says the government.

It adds that policy will operate alongside the UK Emissions Trading Scheme so that airlines can continue to make emissions reduction claims under the ETS for eligible SAF. It also pledges to work closely with policymakers in other states “to ensure that our policy works effectively to support global decarbonisation.”

The government recognises that commercial-scale, domestic SAF plants will be important to supply the levels of SAF needed to keep pace with demand and meet the mandate obligations. It is aiming for five such plants to be under construction by the end of next year, although this is uncertain despite the grants that it has awarded to a number of projects under its Advanced Fuels Fund.

For non-HEFA based SAF plants, advanced SAF projects require major investment that comes with risks. The government has therefore opened a public consultation on implementing a revenue certainty mechanism (RCM) with proposals on four possible options. A Guaranteed Strike Price (GSP) and Buyer of Last Resort (BOLR) are two mechanisms that would require primary legislation, while the Mandate Floor Price (MFP) and Mandate Auto-Ratchet (MAR) are regulatory mechanisms applied to the SAF mandate and could be implemented through additional secondary legislation.

The consultation document also carries a detailed assessment of the options for RCMs against three overarching principles: investibility, deliverability and affordability. Against these criteria, the first two private law contract-based options (GSP and BOLR) scored the highest, with a GSP coming out highest overall. However, the choice of mechanism involves a trade-off between the deliverability timeline and level of certainty provided.

Reaction:

“UK airlines support a SAF mandate as a vital step towards the net-zero transition as SAF will be one of the important technologies to achieve aviation’s net zero commitments. However, it is vital that the government now puts the right measures in place to incentivise production and reduce the cost of SAF as seen in the EU and US, as quickly as possible. Without these, the UK will be at a competitive disadvantage with consumers at risk of higher fares. We welcome the delay to and subsequent increase in the cap on HEFA-based SAF to allow producers time to scale-up more advanced fuels, but the government must keep the buy-out price under regular review to avoid disproportionate price increases for consumers. Ministers must also introduce legislation for a revenue certainty mechanism in the next Kings Speech to drive investment in UK SAF production and increase supply. Only then can we keep UK aviation competitive as we decarbonise.”
Tim Alderslade, CEO, Airlines UK

“Sustainable aviation fuel is a key part of the decarbonisation of air travel and a domestic SAF industry will create jobs, wealth and help the UK secure its energy independence. We are pleased that the government has brought forward proposals for a mandate and revenue certainty scheme, which will send the message to investors that the UK is serious about developing its own production facilities. Government and industry must now work together to keep this momentum towards delivery going so that we can grow sustainably and meet our carbon targets.” 
Karen Dee, Chief Executive, Airport Operators Association

“The mandate, in combination with guaranteed pricing, will see the UK start to produce SAF within the next couple of years. There are many ways of making SAF, and all have a vital role to play. Many of the plants our members will build will be ground-breaking, first-of-a-kind installations. The UK policy aims specifically to encourage SAF made from wastes, which presents an opportunity for innovation and ultimately the export of technology and expertise.”    
Gaynor Hartnell, Chief Executive, Renewable Transport Fuel Association   

“We will continue to support the work of the Jet Zero Council to deliver the revenue certainty scheme so that much-needed SAF plants can start to be built here in the UK.”  
Luis Gallego, CEO, International Airlines Group  

“Both ministers and the aviation industry like to make out that alternative fuels will be the big solution for tackling aviation emissions. But the truth is that these fuels will be in limited supply and most of them will be produced using wastes. That doesn’t even reduce CO2, it just takes carbon, like plastic bottles, that’s laying in a rubbish dump and puts it back in the atmosphere. So it’s actually not even sustainable. If this mandate means the government finally acknowledging the aviation emissions problem can’t be solved without some policy action, then perhaps it’s a step in the right direction. But what we really need is a reduction in aviation emissions. A percentage mandate for alternative fuel in an industry hungry for growth can’t guarantee that. So for the time being, it remains the case that the best way to cut emissions from flying is to fly less. On the revenue certainty mechanism, whatever form this takes, the important thing is that it’s airlines, not the public, who pay for any fuels or technologies designed to help cut emissions. With no tax on aircraft fuel and no effective emissions charges for flights outside Europe, it’s about time we made the polluters pay.”
Cait Hewitt, Policy Director, Aviation Environment Federation

“An ambitious sustainable fuels mandate is central to driving forward production and use of alternative fuels for aviation and moving the sector away from the fossil fuels of today – but with the UK government only mandating that 22% of jet fuel is ‘sustainable’ by 2040, that is not what the sector has received. It’s also the case that not all alternative fuels are made the same, and it’s crucial to make sure that we’re incentivising the right ones. That is why it is disappointing to see the UK showing such low ambition and falling behind the EU’s ReFuelEU Aviation target of 1.2% synthetic fuels by 2030 by only mandating the use of 0.5% power-to-liquid fuels by 2030. These fuels, produced using green hydrogen, have the greatest potential to lower emissions, but supply of them will only be driven to the scale needed with ambitious regulation. That’s why we need to see an increase in ambition and higher mandates for the roll-out of power-to-liquid fuels from future iterations of the SAF mandate. Alongside the mandate for power-to-liquid fuels, we’re disappointed that the mandate does not cap the use of HEFA fuels for aviation at 0% but instead allows these fuels to comprise up to 71% of fuel supplied in 2030. By leaving HEFA on the table for fuel producers, the industry lacks an additional incentive to drive the development of alternative, more sustainable options such as power-to-liquid fuels. Further, by enabling the use of HEFA fuels for aviation we risk seeing the diversion of feedstocks away from industries where they are already widely used, such as road transport.”
Nuala Doyle, Policy Officer, The SASHA Coalition 

“The government is clearly attempting to strike a careful balance between reducing emissions, in line with its Jet Zero strategy, and mitigating inflation in air ticket prices if the aviation industry is primarily expected to foot the bill for the increased costs of SAF production – it aims to do this by incentivising SAF production and reducing the long-term cost of this fuel. However, it is a fine line to tread. The extent to which the government adequately supports the aviation industry through this transition and protects its long-term viability will be key to this new mandate’s eventual success. The aviation industry will be carefully scrutinising the proposals in the consultation on the SAF revenue certainty scheme to see what these proposals could ultimately mean for fuel suppliers, airlines and passengers.”
Andrew Williams, Partner, Norton Rose Fulbright

“We strongly support the continued push to decarbonise air travel with today’s announcement that, by law, 10% of all plane fuels will be low-carbon 2030. Getting there will take time and state funding to help give certainty and momentum to companies, and shield them from the risk of making losses while developing these new fuels. But ministers have also announced another consultation with industry, asking what kind of funding scheme to use. A very similar consultation in 2022 concluded that a ‘contracts for difference’ scheme was industry’s preference – where companies receive capital for upfront costs of developing low-carbon fuels and guarantees on the price they can charge when the fuel comes on stream. This was also the Committee’s recommendation in 2023. So with this further round of consultation, I would urge the Department for Transport to carry it out quickly, and crack on.”
Iain Stewart MP, Chair of House of Commons Transport Committee

Photo: Shell Aviation

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The UK government-funded SAF Clearing House, led by the Energy Institute at the University of Sheffield and supported by Ricardo UK, has been officially launched. It will provide advice and support to fuel producers on the development, testing, qualification and production of new fuels entering the aviation market. All new aviation fuels must meet strict performance standards before they can be qualified as safe to use in aircraft and must undergo stages of testing in accordance with industry recognised standards. The cost and complexity of testing can be a significant barrier to new fuels entering the market and to help overcome this, the UK SAF Clearing House will provide advice to producers on testing, guidance on testing facilities and support qualification. It is now accepting applications from producers for technical support and funding.

“It is great to see there is now a lot of activity in the development of SAF,” said Professor Chris Lewis from the University of Sheffield and the new Director of the UK SAF Clearing House. “However, the increase in a diverse range of raw materials and processes means a major shift in the industry, which is both an opportunity to reduce aviation emissions but also a challenge to get these increasingly diverse SAF products to market.

“The UK SAF Clearing House, in cooperation with the EU and US Clearing Houses, will provide technical advice and information, funding to support with testing, and help in understanding how the industry works, as well as helping producers engage with the industry in a positive way. We are delighted to announce we are open for business, so please do come and talk to us.”

The clearing house is receiving £700,000 ($870,000) in government funding, with another £5.35 million earmarked to support costs associated with fuel testing.

“The UK SAF Clearing House will accelerate the testing of fuels by streamlining the process, in order to help companies get the qualification for use they need,” said Natasha Robinson, Deputy Director of Low Carbon Fuels at the UK’s Department for Transport.

“It will reduce the bottleneck in testing, ensuring a greater availability of SAF from a diverse range of feedstocks, which will enable the UK to achieve its target of 10% SAF by 2030 and will also help with the creation of new jobs and skills in this innovative green sector.”

Added Anthony Browne, Minister for Aviation and Decarbonisation of Transport: “As the UK SAF industry goes from strength to strength, it’s important it also has the capabilities to test the fuel being made, making the transition from the labs to the sky faster and easier than ever before.”

Sujith Kollamthodi, Director of Policy, Strategy & Economics at engineering and environmental consultancy Ricardo, which is supporting the clearing house, said it would be a free-at-the-point-of-use service to support fuel producers, working in collaboration with other international clearing houses and also coordinate a programme of fuel qualification with the support of aerospace original equipment manufacturers.

The University of Sheffield’s Energy Institute hosts the Sustainable Aviation Fuels Innovation Centre (SAF-IC), which provides state-of-the-art facilities to test, certify and deploy new sustainable aviation fuels. It is a development hub for the research and scaling up of SAF, offering laboratory and testing space as well as coordination and networking facilities.

Photo: University of Sheffield Energy Institute

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UK leisure airline Jet2.com has purchased around 650 tonnes of SAF from Shell Aviation, which will be used to add a 1% SAF blend onto a number of departing flights from London Stansted this year, with a further 350 tonnes purchased from Q8 Aviation for use at Bristol Airport. The airline, the UK’s third biggest, has made an equity investment in the Fulcrum NorthPoint SAF production facility due to be constructed in north-west England. However, said the company, without a fully-fledged domestic SAF industry, the UK remained reliant on fuel imported at a high cost or airlines would otherwise in future under the mandate be required to pay a buy-out price, “putting UK airlines and holidaymakers at a competitive disadvantage.”

Ashleigh McDougall, Shell Aviation’s General Manager for Europe and Africa, said scaling the supply and use of SAF required a concerted effort from across the aviation sector. “The announcement with Jet2.com is a great example of the collaborative actions that are required to drive forward the use of SAF and help decarbonise flight,” she said.

Commented Steve Heapy, CEO of Jet2.com and Jet2holidays: “We see SAF as critical in helping the industry decarbonise and we can use this supply to ensure our operations are ready for SAF uptake both now and in the future, when we anticipate its use will grow materially. We very much see 1% as the starting point and we want to grow this over the coming years.”

He called for greater support to incentivise the uptake of SAF in the UK and reduce its cost. “The UK government must implement a price revenue mechanism earlier than the current timeline of 2026, which means we can secure investor confidence, build the UK SAF plants that we need, and turbocharge the UK SAF industry,” he said.

Under the airline’s investment in Fulcrum NorthPoint, it expects to receive over 200 million litres of SAF over a 15-year period from the proposed NorthPoint waste-to-fuels facility when it becomes operational, which will achieve net emissions reductions totalling around 400,000 tonnes of CO2.

In line with government policy, Jet2 has a target of net zero emissions by 2050 but aspires to bring this date forward. As part of its sustainability strategy, it has 110 Airbus A320/A321 neo aircraft on firm order, which could extend up to 146 aircraft. Its holiday arm has recently launched a hotel sustainability labelling scheme so that customers and travel agents can easily find and choose from a collection of certified sustainable hotels that meet Global Sustainable Tourism Council recognised standards.

Photo: Jet2 plc

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At a joint presentation in London, European low-cost carrier Wizz Air announced it has set a goal of powering 10% of its flights with sustainable aviation fuel by 2030, while its UK SAF partner Firefly unveiled plans for an initial sewage-to-SAF demo plant on the east coast of England. The fast-growing airline is looking to expand its current fleet of 206 Airbus narrowbody fleet to around 500 by the end of the decade and meeting its aspirational SAF target will require a significant ramp-up of SAF production and deployment, it acknowledged. Adopting a portfolio approach, Wizz Air has entered into a number of agreements, including a multi-year offtake with Firefly, which in turn has signed MoUs with industrial partners including Haltermann Carless, Petrofac, Chevron Lummus Global and Anglian Water. It hopes to construct an operational demo facility by 2027 and reach commercial-scale production by 2029 at an existing facility near the port of Harwich.

Following a collaboration with Airbus on a hydrogen project, Wizz Air has decided progress on this form of powering future aircraft is too slow and no longer fits with its medium to long term fleet strategy, and it is now fully focused on SAF, as well as ambitious fleet renewal and operational efficiency plans. In 2023, the airline achieved a record annual average CO2 intensity of 51.5 grams per passenger/km, a 6.8% year-on-year reduction, and has committed to reduce carbon emissions per passenger/km by 25% by 2030.

SAF will play a crucial role and is the game changer in reducing carbon emissions from aviation but there are big challenges over cost and availability, acknowledged Yvonne Moynihan, Corporate and ESG Officer at Wizz Air. “Therefore, we call on policymakers to address barriers to SAF deployment at scale by incentivising production, providing price support and embracing additional sustainable feedstocks for biofuel production,” she said.

As a low-cost fares airline, Wizz Air operates at secondary airports across Europe, where Moynihan fears SAF supplies are likely to be scarcer than at the main hubs. It is also competing with rival budget airline Ryanair for SAF, which has set an ambitious 12.5% by 2030 target. There is a reluctance by the carrier to pass on the SAF price premium to its customers, who she said were very price sensitive, and hopes policy incentives can relieve the cost burden.

“The more that policy can drive investment, the more likely the cost of SAF production can be lowered and therefore provide better availability and at lower prices so that we don’t need to pass them on,” she said, adding the airline favoured a Europe-wide SAF book-and-claim system in order to avoid the probability of large quantities of SAF being trucked around Europe to comply with the mandate rule that all EU airports will need to be supplied with the fuel regardless of where it is produced.

The airline has signed offtakes with producers for supplies in Europe but recognises it may have to import SAF from outside. In May 2023, along with low-cost carriers Frontier Airlines and Volaris, it joined a $50 million investment round in US SAF production startup CleanJoule, which included binding agreements by the three carriers to purchase up to 90 million gallons of SAF.

A £5 million equity investment in Firefly in April 2023 was Wizz Air’s first as a venture capitalist. “We hope this will encourage others in the industry to do the same thing,” said Moynihan. The funding will help Firefly with development, testing and qualification of its novel fuel produced through a new and as yet unapproved technology pathway.  

Wizz Air will be Firefly’s launch customer, with production of first volumes slated for 2028/2029 and delivered for use by the airline at Luton Airport. The offtake agreement is across 15 years for 525,000 tonnes of SAF in total and carries a reported value of almost $1 billion, with a potential to save 1.5 million tonnes of CO2-eq over the period, say the partners.

Moynihan said the airline was attracted to the Firefly project by the low feedstock costs and an expected competitive SAF end-price. Firefly estimates human sewage sludge – or biosolids, the useful dry solid fraction of the sludge – has the global potential to produce around 40 billion litres of SAF per year. In the UK alone, the prospective production could amount to 224,000 tonnes of SAF. The company is claiming its fuel is projected to deliver a 90% reduction in GHG emissions compared to fossil jet fuel on a life-cycle basis.

The Firefly production process involves hydrothermal liquefaction, also called hydrous pyrolysis, that converts the biosolid feedstock to biocrude and then hydrotreated to produce sustainable transport fuel. Another by-product of the process is biochar, which can be used for soil enhancement and carbon sequestration. As the new pathway is still in the ASTM certification process, Firefly is unable to say what the maximum blend limit will be for the fuel but expects it to be at the higher end of the scale.

The company has entered into a number of MoUs with industrial partners on its first Firefly Harwich plant, although it is still pulling together the necessary investment. The initial pilot facility, on which Firefly expects to break ground “in the coming months”, will be built at a specialist refinery site that is being repurposed by German hydrocarbon-based production company Haltermann Carless, which also has SAF ambitions in its home country. In 2022, it commissioned a hydrogenation plant at its Speyer site, close to Frankfurt Airport. It is expecting to produce around 60,000 tonnes of SAF and renewable chemicals annually from 2026, based on the alcohol-to-jet process and using EU RED II certified raw materials such agricultural and forestry residues.

Halterman Carless has also just signed a MoU with electricity generation and renewable energy company RWE to develop a green hydrogen plant on the Harwich site that would enable CO2 emissions to be reduced from production. The partners have completed feasibility studies for a green electrolyser at the site and they report work is underway to assess both grid and water connections to enable the project to go ahead.

US company Chevron Lummus Global, a joint venture between energy giant Chevron and Lummus Technology to supply technology for the production of transportation fuels, will provide bespoke refinery infrastructure to the Firefly Harwich project. CLG has developed its ISOTERRA hydroprocessing technology to convert feedstocks into SAF or renewable diesel. The design and build of the Firefly pilot plant will be handled by energy industry services provider Petrofac, which has already completed the pre-FEED study for the facility.

The feedstock will be provided by Anglian Water, which provides water supply, sewerage and sewage treatment to the East of England.

“The signing of these agreements marks a significant leap forward in realising our ambitions to develop a sustainable SAF industry here in the UK,” said James Hygate, CEO of Firefly, which plans to build three plants in the country. “Opening up this new sewage pathway will bring new jobs and growth to the UK, helping us to secure a greener and more prosperous future.”

Image: Wizz Air

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