Geneva: The International Air Transport Association (IATA) has released estimates for Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) production, revealing significant growth in volumes in recent years.
As per press release, in 2023, SAF production reached a noteworthy milestone, exceeding 600 million liters, marking a twofold increase from the 300 million liters produced in 2022. SAF accounted for 3% of all renewable fuels produced, with 97% of renewable fuel production going to other sectors.
Projections for 2024 indicate a substantial leap in SAF production, with expectations to triple to 1.875 billion liters. Despite this growth, SAF is anticipated to represent only 0.53% of aviation’s fuel requirement 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.
While acknowledging the positive momentum with the doubling of SAF production in 2023 and the expected tripling in 2024, IATA’s Director General, Willie Walsh said, “The doubling of SAF production in 2023 was encouraging as is the expected tripling of production expected in 2024. But even with that impressive growth, SAF as a portion of all renewable fuel production will only grow from 3% this year to 6% in 2024. This allocation limits SAF supply and keeps prices high. Aviation needs between 25% and 30% of renewable fuel production capacity for SAF. At those levels aviation will be on the trajectory needed to reach net zero carbon emissions by 2050. Until such levels are reached, we will continue missing huge opportunities to advance aviation’s decarbonization. It is government policy that will make the difference. Governments must prioritize policies to incentivize the scaling-up of SAF production and to diversify feedstocks with those available locally.”
