Mapping the flight path to decarbonize aviation: from biofuels to e-fuels – Financial Times

From January 1, 2025, commercial flights departing from EU airports must carry at least 2 percent sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) in their tanks. The requirement is part of efforts to reduce carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions in one of the most difficult travel segments to decarbonize, flying, and is just the start of a gradual increase in SAF regulations over the coming years.

But what is SAF and is there enough of it to meet the requirement that it make up 70 percent of an aircraft’s fuel tank by 2050?

SAF is a second-generation biofuel made from circular economy materials such as used cooking oils or other organic waste that would otherwise end up in landfills. It has two decisive advantages: It works in the same way as conventional aircraft fuel, allowing it to be used directly in today’s aircraft engines. And when made from waste, it can reduce lifecycle CO2 emissions by more than 80 percent compared to conventional jet fuel.¹

While some airlines already use a SAF blend for commercial flights, demand remains low due to tight production and high costs. To make it more affordable, production needs to be scaled up.

“To reduce SAF’s costs and increase the competitiveness of a fuel that represents an immediate solution to decarbonizing flying, economies of scale, technological advances and supportive government policies are critical,” said Carlos Barrasa, executive vice president for commercial and clean energies in Moeve, formerly Cepsa.

Moeve announced its name change in October 2024 as part of its transformation into Europe’s leading provider of green molecules in the form of second-generation biofuels and green hydrogen and its derivatives this decade to decarbonize high-emitting sectors such as aviation. This change is in line with the company’s investment strategy, of which over 60 percent is invested in sustainable companies.

The company already sells SAF at seven major Spanish airports and is building a new second-generation biofuel plant in Andalusia, where a huge agricultural industry provides access to a variety of potential raw materials for the production of waste-based biofuels.

Moeve’s new €1.2 billion plant will be part of its second-generation biofuel complex in Huelva, the largest in southern Europe. The complex will have an annual production capacity of 1 million tonnes of SAF and renewable diesel once the new plant begins operations in 2026, avoiding the emission of 3 million tonnes of CO2 per year.

The SAF of the future

While second-generation biofuels are currently the most viable solution to decarbonize aviation, which currently accounts for around 2 percent of total greenhouse gas emissions, the availability of waste-based feedstocks will not be sufficient to meet demand beyond 2030 given increasing SAF requirements beyond 2030. Targets to cover increase. The raw material shortage makes alternative raw materials and technologies such as e-fuels necessary.

“The raw materials used today for SAF production are finite, so e-fuels will be the solution of the future,” said Teresa Parejo, director of sustainability at Iberia, an airline committed to 5 in 2024 and 2025 percent SAF to use followed by a sustained increase in the coming years.

E-fuels or synthetic fuels are made from green hydrogen and captured biogenic CO2, a by-product of many industrial processes, meaning they are not constrained by the availability of agricultural waste and residues, which are by their nature limited.

As part of the “Refuel EU” aviation initiative in the EU “Fit for 55” package, which requires a minimum share of SAF supplies for aircraft operators at EU airports from 2025, 1.2 percent of these aviation fuels must also be synthetic fuels from 2030, which increasing to 35 percent in 2050.

“We have the opportunity to fully decarbonize the aviation industry through the use of a combination of biofuels and e-fuels, and the production of these clean fuels in Europe also helps increase the region’s energy independence,” Moeve’s Barrasa said.

Moeve is developing two large-scale green hydrogen plants with a total production capacity of 2 GW as part of the Andalusian Green Hydrogen Valley in southern Spain, the most competitive location in Europe for the production of these green molecules thanks to the abundant availability of solar and wind energy needed for the electrolysis process.

“I have been living and working outside Spain for more than 20 years, so it is important for me on a personal and professional level to stay connected with my family and friends,” said Barrasa, adding: “The SAF of today and tomorrow Tomorrow’s e-SAFs are critical to making this fundamental human need of travel sustainable and guilt-free.”