Africa must unlock its potential to produce sustainable jet fuel

Africa has a huge potential to produce sustainable aviation fuel (SAF), but the continent is not rising to its potential in this area, according to Preeti Jain, head of net-zero transition programmes at the International Air Transport Association (Iata). 

At Iata’s Global Media Day in Geneva on Tuesday, she called on governments, energy companies and other role players in Africa to unlock the potential for SAF production. 

According to Yue Huang, Iata’s assistant director of climate policy, strategic policy sequencing is essential to create a successful SAF market. To create the momentum needed, there should be three priorities in 2025, namely to increase the share of SAF in renewable energy facilities; to attract investment to scale SAF production; and to drive diversification and scale-up of cleaner aviation energies. Feasible policy options could be SAF blender or production tax credits; revenue certainty mechanisms; and grants, loans, and credit enhancements. 

The harmonisation in the setting of standards is a key part of the process, she emphasised, requiring a strong set of SAF sustainability criteria; globally harmonised sustainability certification; and robust SAF accounting. Effective policymaking needs critical elements such as clarity of purpose, stability and predictability, harmonisation, being technology-neutral and feedstock agnostic; having review mechanisms; and strategic implementation. 

For Willie Walsh, Iata’s director-general, there is already a model to follow with the transition to wind and solar power.

“The good news is that the energy transition, which includes SAF, will need less than half the annual investments that realising wind and solar production at scale required. And a good portion of the needed funding could be realised by redirecting a portion of the retrograde subsidies that governments give to the fossil fuel industry,” said Walsh. 

Marie Owens Thomsen, Iata’s senior vice-president of sustainability and its chief economist agreed with Walsh that the airline industry’s decarbonisation must be seen as part of the global energy transition, not compartmentalised as a transport issue. That’s because solving the energy transition challenge for aviation will also benefit the wider economy, as renewable fuel refineries will produce a broad range of fuels used by other industries, and only a minor share will be SAF, used by airlines.

“We need the whole world to produce as much renewable energy as possible for everybody. Airlines simply want to access their fair share of that output,” said Owens Thomsen. 

Previous estimates projected SAF production in 2024 at 1.9-billion litres, but new estimates by Iata indicate 1.3-billion litres, which is 0.3% of global jet fuel production and 11% of global renewable fuel. At the same time, the 2024 SAF volume is double that produced in 2023 and the expected production in 2025 is 2.7-billion litres.

Iata wants to ensure that airlines can claim their SAF purchases against their obligations in a transparent manner that also prevents double accounting. For that reason, the airline body proposes the establishment of a global registry.