Government support vital to achieve sustainable aviation auel target

Government support vital to achieve sustainable aviation auel target

Doha: Governments have been urged to urgently put in place large-scale incentives to rapidly expand the use of sustainable aviation fuels (SAF) as the industry pursues its commitment to achieving net-zero carbon emissions by 2050.

“With effective government incentives, production could reach 30 billion litres by 2030, which would be a tipping point for SAF production and utilisation,” said Willie Walsh, IATA’s Director General in Doha, Qatar, on Tuesday.

“This would require an annual production capacity of 449 billion litres and current investments are in place to expand SAF annual production from the current 125 million litres to 5 billion by 2025,” he added.

Speaking at the International Air Transport Association annual general meeting in Doha, Qatar, Walsh said, “Governments don’t need to invent a playbook. Incentives to transition electricity production to renewable sources like solar or wind work. As a result, clean energy solutions are now cheap and widely available. With similar incentives for SAF, we could see 30 billion litres available by 2030,” he said.

“Though still far from where we need to be, it would be a clear tipping point towards our net-zero ambition of ample SAF quantities at affordable prices,” Walsh further added.

In 2021, irrespective of price (SAF is between