Global petroleum producer Shell announced plans to begin production of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF), adding approximately two million tonnes a year to the world’s SAF supply by 2025. Currently, the company distributes SAF produced by other companies.
The fuel giant last week made the final decision to commission the construction of a new biofuel production facility at its Netherlands energy and chemicals park in Rotterdam, which when completed would make it one of the industry’s leading SAF producers.
The news comes on the heels of a report generated by the company and Deloitte, which interviewed more than 100 aviation industry executives and experts who concluded that “the current global industry targets are not ambitious enough, and that the aviation sector should aim to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050.” Shell also aims to have SAF equal to at least 10 percent of its global aviation fuel sales by 2030.
“Currently, [SAF] accounts for less than 0.1 percent of the world’s use of aviation fuel,” noted Shell Aviation president Anna Mascolo. “With the right policies, investments, and collaboration across the sector, we can accelerate aviation’s progress towards net-zero by 2050.”