Airlines urge faster sustainable aviation fuel growth amid slow progress

Walsh called for concrete policy incentives to expedite renewable energy efforts akin to wind and solar power transitions. "Governments must quickly deliver concrete policy incentives to rapidly accelerate renewable energy production," he said. IATA's analysis suggests that over 6,500 new renewable fuel plants are needed to achieve net-zero CO2 emissions by 2050.

Investment in renewable refineries could significantly impact aviation's carbon footprint reduction efforts and benefit other industries like transportation and manufacturing through additional renewable fuels.

Short-term measures proposed include increasing co-processing at existing refineries, diversifying SAF pathways beyond hydrotreated esters fatty acids (HEFA), and establishing a registry for transparent environmental attribute claims on SAF purchases.

SAF is primarily produced from non-petroleum feedstocks such as used cooking oil or animal fats using certified methods like Alcohol-to-Jet or Fischer-Tropsch processes. The IATA survey indicates strong public support for government incentives enabling airlines' access to SAF.

Three main commercial producers currently dominate the market: World Energy in California since 2016; Neste expanding across US airports since 2020; Montana Renewables LLC partnering with Shell since 2023.

In conclusion, despite some progress made toward sustainable aviation goals via increased investments into these alternative fuels globally—much remains left unaddressed due largely part political inertia alongside economic hesitancies among stakeholders involved throughout entire supply chain networks today thereby stalling widespread adoption necessary combatting climate change long term effectively ultimately benefiting broader societal interests alike moving forward collectively together now more than ever before urgently required indeed!