By Mohamed Attia
The International Air Transport Association (IATA) has announced its estimates for the production of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF), pointing to a doubling of production in the current year compared to 2022.
The report issued by IATA stated that the current year saw the production of more than 600 million liters of SAF, a doubling of production in 2022 at 300 million liters.
The report stated that SAF accounted for 3 per cent of total renewable fuel production, while other sectors accounted for 97 per cent of renewable fuel production.
It is expected that the production of SAF will triple in 2024 to reach 1.875 billion liters, representing 0.53 per cent of the aviation sector’s fuel needs and 6 per cent of renewable fuel capacity.
Willie Walsh, Director General of IATA, said: “We see the doubling of SAF production in 2023 as a positive indicator, as is the case with the expected growth of production by three times next year.”
He added that the aviation sector needs 25 to 30 per cent of renewable fuel production capacity for SAF. Based on these data, it is expected that the aviation sector will achieve full climate neutrality by 2050.”
He explained that governments aspire to achieve climate neutrality in the aviation sector by 2050, pointing out that after announcing the intermediate target within the framework of the Aviation and Alternative Fuels Conference, policies and measures should be put in place to achieve the desired significant increase in SAF production.
