Sustainable aviation fuels (SAF): growing the UK domestic production industry

The emergence of SAF was described in a recent speech by the UK’s Chancellor of the Exchequer as a “game changer”. 

It is anticipated that the aviation sector’s increasing deployment of SAF may enable the expansion of UK airport capacity, notwithstanding previously perceived restrictions on the development of that infrastructure given net zero targets. This would also require growing a SAF production industry. 

The Government’s aim of having at least five SAF plants under construction in the UK by 2025 will not be achieved, but it has put in place a “SAF Mandate” designed to guarantee a demand for this nascent fuel, and is legislating for a “revenue certainty mechanism” to stimulate SAF production and supply, as well as allocating grant funding for new SAF projects. 

This article considers the opportunities for private funds and others to invest in the SAF market arising from the regulatory measures being introduced which will, it is hoped, support the construction of large-scale SAF production facilities in the UK.

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