What is sustainable aviation fuel?
Jet fuel made from something other than crude oil: used cooking oil and animal fats, crops and farm waste, forestry residues, household rubbish, or carbon dioxide joined with hydrogen made from renewable power. Blended with ordinary jet fuel, it goes into today's aircraft, pipelines and airport tanks with no changes, and over its life it puts much less carbon into the air than the fuel it replaces.
Why airlines need it
In October 2021 the world's airlines, through their trade body IATA, committed to net-zero carbon emissions by 2050. New aircraft, better flying and carbon offsets each help, but the largest part, around 65 per cent of the cut, is expected to come from sustainable aviation fuel. Unlike cars, large aircraft cannot yet run on batteries or hydrogen over long distances, so a cleaner liquid fuel is the main way to cut their carbon for decades to come.
The saving comes from where the carbon starts. Burning the fuel in an engine releases about as much carbon dioxide as ordinary jet fuel, but the carbon was taken from the air recently, by the plants or the waste the fuel was made from, or captured directly. Counted over its whole life, from growing or collecting the feedstock to burning the fuel, the fuel made from waste fats and oils today cuts emissions by around 80 per cent.
How much there is
Very little so far. IATA estimates that 1.9 million tonnes were made in 2025, double the year before but only 0.6 per cent of the jet fuel the world's airlines burn, and expects about 2.4 million tonnes in 2026. It costs roughly twice as much as ordinary jet fuel, and more where governments require it to be used.
To reach the 2050 goal, the industry needs more than a hundred times today's output, which means thousands of new plants, many in new places: near forests and farms, waste sites, and cheap renewable power, rather than beside today's oil refineries. Governments are pushing with mandates (the European Union requires 2 per cent of jet fuel at its airports from 2025, rising to 70 per cent in 2050) and with tax credits.
From feedstock to flight every step the fuel takes, and the kinds of company at each; the whole chain explained
What holds it back
- Too little fuel for the demand. Airlines want far more than the few producers can make, so the producers set the price, and airlines compete with each other, and with road fuel, for the same fats and oils.
- Prices are hidden. Deals are private; few say what was paid, so a buyer cannot easily tell what a fair price is.
- A new supply chain. Most new plants will be far from today's refineries and airports. The fuel must be moved, blended with ordinary jet fuel, tested and stored before it reaches an aircraft, often by companies that have never worked together.
- The paperwork follows the fuel. Every batch carries proof of where its feedstock came from and how much carbon it saves, certified under schemes such as RSB, ISCC and the UN's CORSIA, and passed from the feedstock supplier to the producer, the blender and the airline. Most of it is still kept in spreadsheets and emails.
- Many more players. The number of feedstock suppliers, producers, transporters and buyers is growing fast, each with its own systems, which makes finding a partner, agreeing terms and reporting harder for everyone.
These are the problems SAFxCHANGE was set up in 2021 to help with, by putting the market's information in one place.
What this site follows read from the news every morning and kept as data
Sources: IATA, fact sheet on sustainable aviation fuels (the 2021 net-zero commitment, the 65 per cent share, the 80 per cent saving, the EU blending mandate) and press release of 9 December 2025 (production in 2024 to 2026, the share of jet fuel, the price). The site's own figures are counted live from its record. To correct anything here, write to [email protected].