UK green aviation fuel targets could fail without Govt support
The UK’s green aviation fuel targets could be out of reach without further government support, trade body Airlines UK has warned.
Chief executive Tim Alderslade called on the government to introduce a pricing mechanism for the production of sustainable aviation fuels (SAFs), as it is currently between two and four times more expensive.
Produced from the likes of solid waste, cooking oil and food scraps, SAFs reduce CO2 by 80 per cent over the fuel’s lifecycle and are considered the main path towards sustainability by most industry stakeholders.
According to Alderslade, plants for the manufacturing of sustainable aviation fuels (SAFs) will not be built unless manufacturers see a return on their investments.
“Everything that the investment community and the producers are saying to us is without that certainty on price, we’re not going to get those five plants up and running,” he said.
“Ultimately, they want to make sure that the price they will get from the airlines for a nascent product is going to provide a solid return.”
As it currently stands, the government has invested £165m to develop five production plants by 2025.
It also aims to have SAF make 10 per cent of airlines’ fuel consumption by 2030.
“Our sustainable aviation fuel programme is one of the most comprehensive in the world and we continue to work closely with industry to kick start its production in the UK,” said a government spokesperson.
The chief executive said the industry was also concerned about the government looking to import SAF instead of producing its own.
“The worry is that they will coalesce around this idea that we can’t win at everything, the US is surging ahead, there are other parts of Europe that are looking into doing SAF, we’ll just import everything,” Alderslade added.
Alderslade’s remarks came on the heels of aviation veterans like Wille Walsh calling on governments to ramp up production.