VARO and Lufthansa deepen SAF partnership

VARO Energy and Lufthansa Group have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to explore the production and supply of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF).
The MoU will deepen existing partnership through potential agreement for VARO to sell SAF volumes to Lufthansa Group from as early as 2026.
In July 2022 VARO announced its new strategy centred on two engines. Engine one is focused on VARO’s Conventional Energies business, generating high levels of cash flow to reinvest into engine two, focused on sustainable energies.
Engine two consists of five strategic growth pillars targeting the most attractive low carbon growth markets in Europe including biofuels.
The MoU will see VARO and the Lufthansa Group leverage their long-standing partnership to drive forward the market and grow the use of SAF.
Lufthansa could offtake large volumes of SAF from VARO as early as 2026.
The MoU also builds on the Lufthansa Group’s ambition to drive the availability, market ramp-up and use of SAF as a core element of its sustainability strategy. The Lufthansa Group is already one of the largest customers of SAF in Europe and is enabling their corporate customers to report their CO2 emission reductions by an audited certificate.
Katja Kleffmann, Head of Fuel management supply Lufthansa Group, said: “We believe in SAF being a powerful tool to make aviation more climate friendly. Therefore, we are engaged in the development of SAF markets and making SAF logistically available at airports. We are looking forward to our continued cooperation with VARO, which supports our sustainability strategy."
Dev Sanyal, CEO of VARO Energy, said: “Our ONE VARO Transformation strategy is centred on meeting the need of our customers to decarbonize as they progress in the Energy Transition while ensuring reliability of supply. This MoU builds on our long-standing partnership with the Lufthansa Group, one of the world’s largest airline Groups, and I am excited to be working with them to accelerate the development and use of SAF – a key element of our Biofuels strategic growth pillar.”