Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he made of the potential merits of introducing a price support mechanism for reducing the price of Sustainable Aviation Fuels, modelled on the Renewable Obligation scheme that has commercialised wind energy.

The Jet Zero consultation, published in July, sets out our vision for the aviation sector to reach net zero by 2050. Our proposed approach focuses on the rapid development of technologies, including sustainable aviation fuels (SAF), in a way that maintains the benefits of air travel and maximises the opportunities that decarbonisation can bring for the UK.

The Department has made no specific assessment of carbon reductions from SAF deployment by flight type or journey length. However, relevant to the future uptake of SAF, the Jet Zero consultation provided several illustrative scenarios. Our “high ambition” and “high ambition with a breakthrough in SAF” scenarios estimate that by 2050 carbon emission reductions from SAF could be between 8 and 20 megatonnes per year. That is the equivalent of between 14 and 36 per cent of carbon reductions in aviation overall.

Future carbon reductions are dependent upon the ability of SAF suppliers to scale up production. We understand the challenges in securing investment in SAF, including the comparative production costs of SAF and fossil equivalents. This is why we are making available £180 million of new funding for the development of SAF plants, building on the progress made through previous advanced fuels competitions. It is also why the Government has consulted on a new stand-alone mandate for SAF, similar to the Renewables Obligation.

Our Net Zero Strategy published in October confirmed our ambition to see 10% SAF blended into the UK fuel mix by 2030. We are currently reviewing responses to the SAF mandate consultation, which closed in September, and will bring forward updated proposals next year. Core to this work is ensuring that the policy framework cost-effectively delivers rapid SAF commercialisation and carbon reductions.