Government backs SAF industry with funding and jobs

New measures to support the UK’s sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) industry and create jobs across the country were introduced in Parliament today, 14th May. 

The Government has also announced £400,000 in extra funding for fuel producers, aiming to get cleaner fuels to market faster.

This comes after £63m of funding was made available earlier in the year through the advanced fuels fund.

Aviation minister Mike Kane said: “I want to see a golden age for green aviation and today sees take off for sustainable flights.

“Aviation continues to be one of the fastest growing and most integral parts of the UK’s economy, offering more jobs across engineering, tourism and hospitality – and as we support aviation expansion, we need to move at full throttle towards decarbonisation.

“We are making the UK one of the best places in the world to produce sustainable aviation fuel, putting the pedal down on growth and boosting job opportunities across the country as part of the Plan for Change.”

Tim Alderslade, chief executive of Airlines UK, said: “This is a welcome announcement given the importance of the RCM to commercialising and scaling-up SAF production in the UK, a technology key to decarbonising aviation by 2050. 

“A UK SAF industry, kick-started by the RCM and SAF Mandate, can create tens of thousands of jobs across the country whilst supporting our world-class aviation sector to deliver economic growth.

“We look forward to working with government on scheme design and how contracts are allocated, so that we balance the need to deliver the SAF required to support mandate compliance, whilst keeping costs as low as possible through a competitive and transparent bidding process that places the consumer at its heart.”

Duncan McCourt, chief executive of Sustainable Aviation, said: “We hugely welcome the publication of this important legislation. 

“SAF is a crucial element in the plan to decarbonise aviation as it can be used in existing aircraft with existing infrastructure.

“The challenge now is to scale the industry, ensuring we have enough SAF to meet the mandate whilst keeping costs low and create thousands of jobs in the process. This legislation will help to do that.”