Airlines perform poorly on decarbonisation test

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Nobody likes to see their results if they didn’t study for the test. It is worse when they are published on a notice board for everyone to see. Clean transport and energy group Transport & Environment just released its Airline SAF Rankings.

In a comprehensive assessment, 77 airlines were put to the test, evaluated on their decarbonisation performance across a rigorous 100-point scale. The ranking scrutinised their current SAF usage, future commitments and potential emissions reductions.

The results were sobering: not a single airline managed to break the 75-point threshold required for an A-grade performance.

Air France-KLM emerged as the standout performer, securing a score of 61 and leading the pack by a significant margin. United Airlines followed with 46 points, and Norwegian trailed at 39. While Air France-KLM and United Airlines gained ground through strategic sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) offtake commitments and actual usage, Norwegian distinguished itself through targeted investments in e-SAF.

The remaining 74 scored less than 38 with 33 airlines scoring zero; since none of them have used SAF so far and have not set out plans for the future.

“Too few airlines are committing to truly sustainable fuels. The majority are either buying the wrong types of fuels or, worse still, using no SAF at all. Airlines have to put their fist on the table to change this,” said Francesco Catte, SAF manager at T&E.

The report found stark regional variations from a SAF usage as well as the fuel’s sustainability point of view. European airlines are leading e-SAF adoption, with 15% of their volumes coming from this more sustainable fuel source. North American airlines, by contrast, remain heavily dependent on crop-based biofuels. Asian airlines are just beginning to explore SAF procurement, while African and South American airlines have yet to make meaningful investments.

But the report pins the majority of the blame on oil producers highlighting their lack of appetite for investing in SAF. The study found that Eni, TotalEnergies, Shell, BP, Chevron, ExxonMobil, Sinopec and Saudi Aramco could produce only around 3m tonnes of SAF per year by 2030 – less than 3% of their current jet fuel output

“Oil companies are the missing piece of the puzzle in the green fuels ecosystem. They have gone unnoticed so far but their reluctance to invest into SAF is hijacking the transition of the sector as a whole,” Catte added.

The dearth of investment in eSAF is much more worrisome. A lot of investment in eSAF is coming from small players while oil majors have backtracked on their announced projects.

Shell cancelled its planned 82,000t per annum eSAF project with Vattenfall in July. Immediately after, a joint project by Airbus, Uniper and Siemens energy, with projected capacity of 10,000t of eSAF per annum, was also shelved in August. Uniper also cancelled its plans to develop a 100,000t per annum eSAF plant in October citing “challenging market conditions”.

With lack of investments in eSAF, airlines will continue to rely on bio-based SAF while small offtake volumes for bio-based SAF will not compensate for the sector’s emissions growth.

T&E said for the 77 airlines ranked in the study, the projected volumes of SAF will only lead to a 0.9% CO2 equivalent emissions reduction in 2030.

However, with mandates right around the corner, the airlines will need to be more serious in their SAF usage and goals to make sure they improve their score next year.

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