Overcoming hurdles to decarbonise aviation

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) has made new estimates for sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) production.
In summary the headline figures include:
• SAF volumes reached over 600 million litres (0.5Mt) in 2023, double the 300 million litres (0.25 Mt) produced the year before.
• SAF accounted for 3% of all renewable fuels produced with 97% of renewable fuel production going to other sectors.
• SAF production is expected to triple to 1.875 billion litres (1.5Mt) this year, accounting for 0.53% of aviation’s fuel need and 6% of renewable fuel capacity. The small percentage of SAF output as a proportion of overall renewable fuel is primarily due to the new capacity coming online in 2023 being allocated to other renewable fuels.
Encouraging news
“The doubling of SAF production last year was encouraging as is the expected tripling of production expected in 2024,” said Willie Walsh, IATA’s director general.
“However, even with that impressive growth, SAF as a portion of all renewable fuel production will only grow to 6% in 2024.
“This allocation limits SAF supply and keeps prices high....