What is Rachel Reeves ‘green fuel’ plan for Heathrow – and can it work? | EUROtoday

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Government plans to make use of inexperienced jet gas to offset the environmental impression of airport expansions have been rubbished because the boss of Shell, Wael Sawan, referred to as the initiative into query.

Chancellor Rachel Reeves had stated ‘sustainable aviation fuel’ (SAF) is crucial as tasks like Heathrow’s third runway go ahead, however feedback from the trade chief put enterprise backing unsure.

Last week, the Chancellor described SAF as “a game-changer in the way that we fly” as she backed the long-delayed runway at Britain’s largest airport. But Mr Sawan, chief govt of oil large Shell, has stated SAF is just too costly, that means airways can be sluggish to take it up.

Early in January, the federal government’s ‘SAF mandate’ grew to become legislation, requiring two p.c of the aviation gas provide in 2025 to be from sustainable sources. This will rise to 10 per cent by 2030, and finally 22 per cent by 2040.

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The Department for Transport says the gas is among the key measures wanted to make sure the UK can nonetheless attain web zero emissions from aviation by 2050. Studies present that it reduces greenhouse fuel emissions by 70 per cent in comparison with fossil kerosene, a typical sort of jet gas.

Following the chancellor’s landmark speech on financial development in January, the DfT introduced that the mandate could be backed by £63 million of funding over the following 12 months to help SAF producers throughout the UK.

What did the Shell boss say about Labour’s plan?

The present take up of SAF within the aviation trade is “less than 0.1 per cent,” Mr Sawan stated. It is dearer to provide than common jet gas, giving bosses little incentive to take up the product.

“The reality is that SAF is more expensive and therefore unless there are mandates — obligations on either customers or airlines — it is difficult to see a penetration that is going to be massive,” he stated.

“SAF is truly the only solution for the aviation sector, I think, for at least the next ten to 15 years — and it will grow. But I think, just from a fundamentals basis, it grows from a low base. I mean, airlines will not simply erode their bottom lines for the sake of it.”

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The trade chief added that solely stricter legal guidelines can be sufficient to make sure take up of SAF, acknowledging the significance of Labour’s SAF Mandate.

But it can be crucial that “these mandates stick,” he added, telling The Times: “what we have seen, if anything, is a backsliding on mandates in multiple countries, which has of course impacted some of the investments we have made.”

It’s attainable that Donald Trump’s new US administration will water down and even undo Biden-era SAF commitments within the nation, rendering many investments by aviation corporations fruitless.

Pouring water on the chancellor’s imaginative and prescient, Mr Sawan added that he thought solely a “very, very small proportion” of aviation gas world wide could be sustainable by 2035.

What is SAF?

Sustainable aviation gas is a substitute for common jet gas, derived from ‘greener’ sources. Because it’s refined from non-petroleum uncooked supplies, it has a lot lowered emissions.

It is mostly produced from sustainable ‘feedstocks’ like cooking oils and animal waste fats. Other sources can embrace house waste, like paper and cardboard, and forestry waste like wooden.

The product will then be blended at as much as 50 per cent with conventional jet gas, making a hybrid gas that’s extra sustainable and produces much less emissions.

In 2023, round 24.5 million gallons of SAF had been used within the US, in keeping with the nation’s Environmental Protection Agency. This was simply from simply 5 million gallons in 2021.