The Sustainable Aviation Fuel Financing Alliance fund has been formed with anchor-investor Airbus as well as Air France-KLM, Mitsubishi HC Capital Inc., BNP Paribas, Associated Energy Group, and Burnham Sterling Asset Management (as fund manager).
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The initial partners have committed around $US200 million, with Qantas initially committing US$50 million (AU$75 million1) from its Climate Fund, which was established in 2023 and includes the Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) partnership with Airbus.
SAF is one of the most effective tools that airlines currently have to reduce their emissions, with low and zero emissions aviation technology decades away, but local and global demand far outstrips supply.
Through SAFFA, the partners will invest in SAF technology development and production projects with an initial focus on opportunities that repurpose existing infrastructure. Investments will be initially focused in the United States, but in time are expected to be diversified across various SAF production pathways and regions.
Qantas and the SAFFA partners will also have opportunities to enter into priority offtake contracts for the supply of SAF produced through the supported projects.The fund made its first investment in April 2024 in US-based technology company Crysalis Biosciences, which aims to renew chemical manufacturing infrastructure with innovative fuel and chemical production technologies.
The company has successfully acquired and renovated an ethanol plant in Illinois that was closed in 2019. The plant has now received approval to resume operations to produce low carbon intensity SAF and biochemicals.